A few years ago I decided to take a break from working in the entertainment business. I was burned out. While I was on my little break I was approached by an area businessman that I had met some time before and he asked me if I would like to work for a new car dealership that was just about to open. I really had never thought about being a car salesman but I did see myself in some type of sales or marketing position. Since the dealership was close to my home I decided to give it a try. I knew with my  promotions back ground and my people skills I would do OK.

    Anytime you start a new job you are required to get some training. My first thought was great, maybe I will learn all the inside secrets on how to make the customer overpay. 

    Through out the week long class most of the teaching was on learning about the the particular brand of vehicles we were selling. We had to know everything about the make and model of all the cars. That made sense but I wanted to get to the good stuff. I wanted to know how I was going to get my customers to pay top dollar.

    Since my pay was mostly commission I knew I had to sell high in order to get a nice paycheck every week. I wont lie to you I was only doing this for the money and for only a short period of time. I knew this was not going to be a career move. It was just something to do for the time being.

    Well the "Special Training" I was hoping to get was not that special after all. I did learn how to use certain word phrases and how to play with the numbers a little but mostly it was just your typical sales class teaching typical selling techniques.

    Before I knew it the week was over and the dealership was opened and it was time for me to start selling.

    Once I started getting my own customers I found out how easy it was for me to make a lot of money for myself and the car dealership. All I really had to do was listen to the customer and do what they were asking me to do and they always left the dealership paying more then they should have. If only they knew what they were doing. This is very important for you to understand so I will repeat it again. I was only doing what they (the customers) were asking me to do and they left the dealership over paying on the car they just bought.

    Day after day I  was amazed how most of my customers would not use any common sense when buying a car. They were about to spend thousands of dollars of their hard earned money and almost everyone  of them believed that I was going to get them the best deal. They actually thought I was working for them. But in all honesty I was working for myself and the car dealer. The bottom line was this " the more you spend the more I make."

        I sold cars for about a year and left. Like I said earlier, I was not going to make this a career move. I was just taking a break from my old profession.

    After selling cars I went in to the film and television business creating television programs and writing film scripts.   However I was constantly being asked by my friends if I would help them buy a car. They were not asking for money. They were looking for information. They knew I could get them the best price. What they didn't realize is that they didn't need me for that. I told them they could get the rock bottom price and what really shocked them was this. I told them that car dealers are willing to give up a large percentage of their profit but there is a catch. The customer must know how to make the deal.  

    What I decided to do one day was create a short book describing exactly what to do and say in order to obtain the best possible deal at any car dealership.This way when my friends would ask for my help I could just hand them the little book.

    The next thing I knew I was getting calls from people I didn't know asking if they could get a copy of  my book. My friends told their friends and the next thing I knew I was giving away my little book left and right. Everyone was saving thousands of dollars and I was happy for them but my time is limited and I had to stop taking all the calls and request for my book.

    What everyone loves about Common Sense Car Buying is that it really has nothing to do with the car salesman, sales manager, finance person or owner. My program puts you in charge. It is your money and you have a right do decide how you spend it.

    A few months had passed and  I was in my home recording studio checking out a new piece of recording software. I needed to make an audio recording of something so I could test the software so I opened my desk and  grabbed anything I could to read and record. I just  happened to have grabbed my little Common Sense Car Buying booklet and I began my recording.

    This new software was so cool that I wanted to continue to play with it so I actually recorded myself reading the entire book and placed it on a CD. After the recording I put the CD on the desk and forgot about it.

    Well as luck would have it a friend of mine asked me for my car buying book and instead of the book I gave him the CD.  What a mistake. You guessed it. Everyone now wanted the CD.

    I ended up making some copies and handing them out. Not really wanting to do anything else with it. I was slammed with my television projects and the last thing I was thinking about was my Common Sense Car Buying program. I knew it was a great little program but I really didn't know how great until the following happened.

    I was in my office one afternoon and I  received a phone call from a car dealer that I did not know and he said he was holding a copy of my book. I thought for sure he was going to hassle me about how I was helping everyone save money. Instead he actually thanked me.

    He said that he was tired of reading and listening to stories that portray car dealers as thieves and crooks. He admitted that most of the time he could sell a car for a lot less and still make a nice profit but it is not his responsibility to just give away his profit. He said the customer has to know how to get it. Just like your program teaches.

    He said if more people would read the book then there would be a lot more cars sold and car dealers would stop getting such a bad rap.

    Everyone would be happy he said. The customer would be happy because they would save a lot of money and the car dealers would be happy because they would  sell more cars. Even though they would not make as much per sale they would increase their volume and customer base resulting in a fair profit.

    I then realized that maybe I should make my book available to everyone.

                             Joey Simao