Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
The Negotiating Mistake That’s Costing You Thousands
There’s one thing I see consultants give away on deal after deal without even realizing it. No dramatic objection. No hard negotiator pushing them around. They just hand it over — quietly, voluntarily — because they think it’s not a big deal.
It’s a big deal.
Start every deal at your full selling price. Never pre-discount your first pencil.
That’s the rule. And it gets broken constantly.
Here’s what happens. A buyer walks in having done their research online. They’ve seen your internet price — already discounted, already competitive. They sit down, you present the deal sheet, and the moment they push back, the consultant mentally treats that internet price as the floor. Now every concession comes off an already-reduced number. You’ve handed them a head start in the negotiation before the negotiation even began.
The online selling price is the selling price. Full stop.
Before any discussion of additional concessions, go back and walk your buyer through what they’ve already been given. Not just the discount on the vehicle — the whole package. Oil changes. Car washes. Warranty coverage. Fuel savings. Tax savings on the trade. Every piece of value that’s already baked into this deal. That’s money they’re not spending. That’s what the Resell Re-Ask inside the Dealership Playbook is built to do — remind buyers of the full value of their deal before the conversation moves to what else they want off the price.
Buyers chip away. That’s how they negotiate. A little here, a little there. And most consultants think, “It’s only $500. That’s nothing.”
Run the math.
$500 off costs you roughly $125 in commission. Multiply that by 100 deals. That “$500 is nothing” thinking just cost you $12,500 in personal income. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a meaningful chunk of your annual earnings, surrendered in small pieces because each individual concession felt minor in the moment.
Process prevents this. The Resell Re-Ask is your second chance at a first pencil close — and it works by changing how the buyer feels about the numbers before you give anything up. Empathy first, so they feel heard. Logic next, so they have a reason to say yes. Then a redirect back to the value of what they’re getting, a confident reassurance that this is a great deal, and a re-ask. Done well, this doubles your first pencil close rate. Not because you out-argued anyone — because you out-prepared them.
The buyers who push back hardest aren’t your worst customers. They’re often your best ones. They want to make sure they’re getting a fair deal. Your job is to make them feel, with complete confidence, that they already are — before you move a single dollar.
Total package thinking. Every deal. Every time.
The deeper training on this lives in the Win-Win Closing and Negotiating course inside the Dealership Playbook. If your team isn’t working the Resell Re-Ask consistently, that course is where to start.
If you want to build a team that protects gross on every deal and closes more at the first pencil, let’s talk →
Seek Excellence.
