Nicole Begley (00:00)
In today's episode of the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast, well, buckle up my friends, literally, because Heather is taking us behind the scenes on something we can all agree is only slightly more enjoyable than a root canal, buying a car. Even better, she got to witness the entire emotional roller coaster as her daughter bought her very first car.

We've got used car salesman, questionable loan tactics, and some of the best real life sales lessons you'll ever hear. So stay tuned.

Nicole Begley (00:29)
I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six-figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving $2,000 $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six-figure businesses.

that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full-time passion or a part-time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads, welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast.

Nicole Begley (01:29)
Today's episode is a little different. It's pulled directly from a recent Elevate strategy call that was just too good not to share. We're diving into a real life story involving my daughter's first car purchase and the unexpected coaching

gold that came out of it from pushy finance managers to the most sincere and I quote, please buy a car for me today that you've ever heard. This experience beautifully illustrates the difference between get energy and service energy and how your energy more than your words determines how your offer is received. Whether you're nervous about selling

or afraid of being too salesy, this episode is going to flip your mindset in the best way. Let's dive in. I wondered what you think the public's general perception is of a used car salesman. Before coming into Elevate or just in my world in general, what was your perception?

of a used car salesman or what do you think people are thinking? This term often comes up when we are talking about selling because many of you will say, and I quote, I don't want to come across as a used car salesman, which is yes, negative, pushy. Susie says they wear a plaid blazer. It's possible. They're sleazy, they're negative, sneaky, dishonest, pushy.

only out there to get cars off the lot, not to help me find the right fit for a car. So we could all agree that most people have this very, in general, in general, this very negative experience of a used car salesman and yes, money motivated, of course. So my daughter bought her first car a few days ago. And as we were going through the process, I thought to myself, man, this is gold. This is going to make a fantastic training inside of

elevate. But let me start out by saying Ella just started her full-time job. She's working in corporate as an accountant. She is making a very, very nice salary. She's doing really well. And she was driving the ultimate piece of crap car, the ultimate 2010 rusting out from underneath. don't sure if it's good. We're not sure if it's going to make it through another winter, let alone a car inspection. In fact, for the past couple of years, she's been taking it to a

shall we say, maybe less than reputable person who, know, will ⁓ air quote, inspect it. It was terrible in the hundreds of thousands of miles. I don't remember exactly. We knew it would not last through another Pittsburgh winter. She was waiting to start her job to get her bonus because she wants to put as much money down on the car as she can. You know, she'll have a car payment.

She wants to get it paid off very quickly. We're the type of family that typically pays cash for our cars. She knows us. She doesn't love the idea of a car payment, but hey, listen, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right? So last Friday, this is just a couple of days ago. It's only Tuesday. She says, hey, we should just go drive around this afternoon and look at cars. Listen, I've been saying this for months. I'm like, let's go. I love this. It's so much fun. And she is starting to freak out about like, mom, I don't know how to do any of this.

She's like, how does this loan work? What about my credit score? And how do I get pre-approved for something? And the dealership interest rate is so high. Is it cheaper at the credit union? How do I get in touch with them? What about the insurance? Okay, just completely overwhelmed and spinning. Anyone here recognize these emotions about anything they're working on? It's just this like big giant, I don't know anything.

and I don't even know where to start. So I said to her, why don't you call, my gosh, imagine, call the credit union and tell them what you're doing. You wish to buy a car, to get pre-approved. How does that work? Once you purchase the car, where, how, what? She said, okay. She made that phone call. I said, they're happy to help you. You understand that? Like if you're overwhelmed by a piece of technology,

such as your website or even Lightroom or Photoshop. You know that you can call these people. You can call customer support and get help. That's like actually a real thing. And instead of trying to figure it out on your own and spinning and overwhelm, you can seek out a resource. okay. Something to consider. So she called and she said to me, yes, they told me how it works. They've put in everything for the pre-approval and okay, great.

And then we're getting ready to leave and she's like, I don't know what to do about insurance. How do you, I mean, I'm on your insurance. How do I get my own insurance? What about this new car? How do I do any of this? And I said, you could make a phone call. These are very nice people. They're happy to help you. So she calls our agent who actually has been here. We, interviewed her years ago. Her name is Jennifer.

Fantastic. Okay. She calls her. She's like, okay, I understand how that works. But really what we were doing was we were just going to look at cars. This was our first time out, no intention of buying a car that particular day. Although I did grab the title to her car, just in case. My name is on the title with her because she acquired this car when she was 16, which means she couldn't have the title on her own name. I had to be on it. Okay. So I'm there with the title, you know.

just to see what we can do. So we go to this dealership and there's a, we go to, it's Mazda dealership. And on one side is a giant Honda dealership. On the other side is a giant Hyundai dealership. And in the middle, there's an alleyway. And herein lies the Mazda dealership, an alleyway with like six new cars and maybe five used car. It is the smallest car lot I've ever seen, but she had looked online and noticed that there was a model she was interested in.

in on the slot. Okay. So we get there and we had talked about all of this. Like she's running this show, right? She wants to put it entirely in her own name. And, you know, if you know me, take my personality, multiply it by 10. And that's my daughter. So the guy walks out, the used car salesman walks out and I'm like, let's go. Here it is. And I step back, you know, and she,

She is so put together and so confident and she explained what she was looking for. And in about two seconds, he says to her, please buy a car from me today. Now, I just want to ask you, based on your thoughts about a used car salesman who then immediately says to you, please buy a car from me today, what's going through your mind? It was in fact,

October 31st in the afternoon.

He says, yeah, yeah, right. Exactly. He'll make a deal. The dude needs a sale. Got to meet that quota. And then a little bit later, he shared with us that he's very new to this dealership, like a week and a half. He had been selling cars his whole life. He was new to this dealership. And I got the feeling as time went on that it just wasn't a quota thing that maybe he was like on in some probationary period. I don't know how that works. Where are they?

make sure it's a good fit and they figure out if they're going to keep him on permanently. just, I just picked, picked up on that. So yeah, he's probably trying to impress the new boss and keep his job and maybe pay his bills. mean, there are a lot of things going on and it was just funny. Okay. So he chose her car. He, he's explaining they test drive one of the cars. Listen, I'm in the back seat. Like I'm just zipping it, which by the way is really hard.

I'm just like leaving this all happen. And she asked him some questions about the car and he didn't know the answers because he's so new to Mazda, but he was very like, I don't know, unassuming about it. He was just like, yeah, I'm not sure, but I'll ask the guys. And when we get in, we can take a look at that. OK, so we get in and we start talking and she whispers in my ear, you know, I kind of like both of those cars, but I know we can't buy one today.

And I'm in my head, like, well, I know that we can actually, but okay, you I'm just going to let her figure this all out. So we go in and he starts talking about what she's looking for. And she is just not playing her hand at all. He played his hand in the first two seconds and she didn't play hers at all. So they start talking and he, know, the usual, what's your budget?

What do you want to keep your monthly payment at? How are you going to finance? And she was just, she was great. She was just very elusive, you know, I'm not sure. And I want to look at these different things and what does this look like? Okay, they're going back and forth and it's fantastic. But something I picked up on straight away, his name is David and I'm using his name because we actually had a really good experience. He was the most genuine ⁓

Simple, straightforward, easy salesman I have ever met. And in fact, when he said to her, please buy a car for me today, it was almost cute. It wasn't like, please buy a car for me today. It wasn't like, please buy a car for me today. It was just, it had this very genuine energy. That was his energy.

very sincere from a place of service. We often talk about the difference between service energy and get energy. I promise you David was trying to get a client, but he was in service energy. was natural. was authentic. didn't, I didn't feel like he was being pushy towards her, towards me. It was just easy. It was fine. So he brings out

You know, here could be your monthly payments, by the way, on that sheet, nowhere was the interest rate. So she asked, what is the interest rate? 7.89%, which is insanity. And she knew that the credit union we use, it was 6.4%. So there's no way she's going to do that through them, but she hasn't said this yet. And then she's looking at these two cars. One of these cars was $23,000 and one of them was $26,000.

As her mother, I'm like leaning into the cheaper car, but I didn't say that's her decision. And I said, at any point, if you need to confer with me about something, just call a team meeting. Okay. Just say to David, Hey, if you'll excuse us, we need to have a team meeting. So she did that. And we were talking about it. She asked my opinion. I shared my opinion. I tried to be very neutral. And then the next thing you know, the sales manager comes over. So she has two printouts in front of her.

One printout is the monthly payments on the 23,000, the other is 26,000. And he says, well, if you look at the monthly payment, I bet some of you know where this is going. It's only, you know, like $80 more per month if you go with the nicer car. mean, look at this and it's, it has a pre-owned warranty and all of these things and that fancy red leather and you know, whatever else.

My daughter was, my gosh, she's so astute. She was like, yeah, but this is a 60 month loan and that's a 72 month loan.

she caught it and I was like, what? First of all, I was so proud. But I was like, you guys know this, we're adults here, you've done this, you know what they're doing, right? Because if he had put a 60 month loan against a 60 month loan, it would have been a different number and it would have been much higher. But you know, they're smart that way. And then she said, what's the interest rate? They say it and she's like, well, I can't do that.

well, what do mean you can't do that? And she said, I can get it through my bank at 6.4. So we're not going to be able to do this today because I'm getting pre-approved and I just put that paperwork in. This is her, not me. And she said, so once I get that back, then we can sit down and look at which one of these cars and David and his sales manager are there. you know, know, they're, you know, the wheels are turning. Sales manager leaves, David walks away.

Her and I are talking about it. It's like, yeah, okay, this is just the way she wants to put down $5,000. They're giving her a thousand dollars for her trade-in, which we know is not true. They're not giving her a thousand dollars for her trade-in. That car is barely worth the parts. They're just taking it off, whatever. They do their thing. She knows this. So he comes back and he says, you know, we can go through your credit union and get you that 6.4. really? Because why?

Why wouldn't have you figured that out how to give us a cheaper rate before? Well, okay. They didn't have to. So, all right, then let's look at those numbers. We're looking at those numbers. So now she's really looking at that nicer car. He insists that she drive it. guy, smart guy. She drives the car. She really likes the car. Of course, that's the one she wants. it's really, she had said this sort of a few different ways, but multiple times.

It's really important to me. I want this in my own name. I don't want to co-sign her. I have a job, you know, okay. He says to her, that shouldn't be any problem. We pulled your credit. Your credit score is really, really high. And he was kind of looking at her like, can you be so young with such a high credit score? He walked away and she turned to me and she said, mom, that is the best thing you ever did for me. It was the smartest. I can't believe you knew how to do that. That was brilliant. When the kids were,

in their early teens, don't know, maybe even 12, I added their names to my credit card and I used their credit cards all of the time so that my kids both have really high credit with no debt and nothing to really show for it. It was me. I learned that somewhere. I can't take credit. I read it in a book. She was like, man, that's brilliant. So he assures her she'll be able to get this car in her own name, no problem. Okay, then we might be serious here today.

So he, I don't know, you guys, let me just say we were there for about 55 years, okay? It was the entire rest of the day. It was very painful. So he comes back and he's like, well, you know what? Your credit score is good, but you don't have any debt. And so you have to have a co-signer. She was really deflated by this, but there was probably no bank that's going to give her a loan without a co-signer. I said to her, like, listen, it's not the worst thing in the world.

But if you ruin my credit score, you will be dead. You'll certainly be grounded at the very least. Okay, 23 lives on her own.

So we're like, all right, I think we're going to do this. This is the car we're going to go for. It's the more expensive one. And they work everything out and they're running all of these reports, you know, and he's running my credit score and he comes back and he said, I don't know who you are, but I've been selling cars my entire life. And I thought the highest credit score there could be was 850. And I was like, I have no clue. I don't even know what mine is. He said it's 890.

And I said, I don't know what to tell you, bro. I pay my bills. I don't know. I don't know. This doesn't seem hard to me. We had a good laugh about that. And she's calling the insurance agent and she's walking around this showroom, is as big as your bathroom probably. And he looks at me. So she's over off. He looks at me and he leans back and he says, she is the most exceptional young lady I have ever met.

Like she is just really extraordinary, isn't she? Now, listen, let me say this. People have said that to me sometimes in a slightly manipulative way, like they're trying to get something. This was not the case with David. He was actually perplexed. His face was like, what is happening? And I said, thank you. She is amazing. We are very proud. You should be proud. I said, yes. She comes from a house of champions. That's who we are. Okay, whatever. You know, thank you. So she,

She gets this all worked out. I'm just there to sign the title, you know, and co-sign the thing and this is her deal. And she was so excited. I, on her face, like this incredible sense of accomplishment, like I did this, she was so, so proud of herself. And as a parent, it's very, very rewarding to see this all play out from a guy who really, really wanted to sell a car, but was in very

genuine service energy. was that she, she did not actually want to buy a car that day. You know, she wasn't committed to that. She actually kept saying to me, I think we should look around. We haven't gone anywhere else. Is this a mistake? And I'm trying to teach her to be decisive. If you find something you like, stop wasting time looking around, just do it. You know, so there's this like balance between that. So she was not committed to this. And then she just started to see that it

was happening and she was just very proud and it was just beautiful, you guys. It was like a beautiful, beautiful service, genuine moment. And it would have stayed that way and it would have been perfect until we went to sit in the office of the finance manager. Now I had prepared my daughter as much as I could for all of the shenanigans that might take place here.

What I neglected to prepare her for, this is on me, was that the finance manager makes money off of commissions from selling additional services. You know this, right? You go in there and they're going to try to sell you everything under the sun. So she says to my daughter, in every point in this day, I am sitting in the background as quiet as can be. don't say anything until Ella says to me, hey, what are your thoughts? So I'm sitting back.

In fact, I'm sitting back, I notice a plaque on her desk that says, I work hard to give my dog a better life. So I said, could you hand me a post-it? I'm gonna write down my friend Jessica's website. I want you to check her out, maybe hire her for a pet session. I'm trying to sell Jess. Okay. So she says to Ella, she puts this screen in front of her with four options. And she says, here are the options for you to choose from.

So the first option is, you know, ⁓ an extended warranty on the warranty for the overtax of the sub-charge double taxed for the tires and the windshield wipers and the prepaid maintenance and the gap insurance. And you better cover those fuel injectors. Have you considered the pistons? What are you doing about the pistons? She's telling you about all this stuff. This comes to an additional 200 and something per month.

Okay, so Ella's car payment came to 424 and she was thrilled with this. She has an aggressive payoff strategy. She was like, I want to keep the payment. That's a good payment based on my salary. She knows her rent. She is very good at budgeting. She knows these numbers. And she's like, what is this lady doing? Trying to raise my car payment by $200. That was option number one. Second option was just like removing the fuel injectors or whatever. I don't even know. I'm exaggerating.

and all of these other things, that's an additional 150. Then the third option was an additional 100. Okay, so you see where this is going. Like there are different packages that you can add on to your car payment. And she's explaining all of this to my daughter in a way that made it sound like she had to pick one.

And I'm like letting this play out. Ella didn't know any of this. Again, that's on me. And I could see she was getting hives. I could see she gets like hives on her neck when she gets nervous. And she had been so in control all day that I was like, ⁓ boy. And she's like, I'm not sure I understand what this means.

So the lady starts to explain it to her in probably the most condescending sales get energy I have ever heard. And she wasn't even as direct as David's quote, you know, please buy a car for me today. It wasn't even that direct, but it was a completely different, horrific, I might add, energy. And Ella looked at me and she said, I need your opinion on this. I need your help.

And I said, no, you are not required. You don't have to do any of these things. And then she, the lady interrupts me as I'm saying that and says, well, but what you have to consider is if you need an oil change and an oil change is $80 now, you pay $80 now. And that oil change goes up to $120. Where, how are you going to pay? Like, what do do you have a savings if something breaks? She leans in in the most condescending

Do you have a savings? And Ella's like, yeah, I have a savings. Well, you're going to need it. If you blow a tire and your insurance doesn't cover it and oh, and are you sure you don't need this gap insurance? And these things can fail. And I'm like, are you selling us a piece of crap car? Is that what you're telling me? And everything's going to fail. And what makes you think, I didn't say this part, that she can't pay for her own oil change? Like she has a job. It was

just the worst experience ever. We were with her, I don't know, 45 minutes and we had been with David for 45 hours and it felt the opposite.

And so, ⁓ you know, I had said to Ella, no, she looked at me again and I did one of these and then under the table, I'm going like this with my hand. No, no, no, no, no. Just tell her I didn't want to say it. I wanted her to be empowered to say it. And this woman was attacking my child. Okay. Attacking her. And I was just, and then she gets the sense, this lady that we're not going to do it.

after like she is pressuring us to the moon. She turns to her computer to sort of like start entering this all in, right? She's like, yeah, you know, it's just a shame. You know, nothing against you, she says to me, nothing against you, but it's just a shame that, you know, these people come in and they could be 40 years old and they just listen to whatever their parents tell them. my gosh, we told Craig this story and he's like,

I'm driving there today. I would have never tolerated that. And I said, well, what was I going to say? Like, are you kidding me? Of course she's going to listen to her mom before she's going to listen to you. And what makes you think I don't know what I'm talking about? Like she talked to Ella and then, me indirectly as a complete idiot. And

You know, I didn't say anything about, I wanted to say, you know, I run a business, it's an online education platform for photographers that brings in $340,000 a year. And if my kid, for some weird reason, can't afford her own tire, which she will, I'm gonna make sure she has a tire on her car and that her windshield wipers and pistons are working properly. No, we are not prepaying for maintenance.

And, and I, I watched my daughter completely shut down and it was so sad to me that this experience was so great in her first time. And it was, you know, awesome. She got the car she loved, she could afford it and all of this. And then we stood up to walk out of there at approximately midnight and

She, says to me, I just, in my head, I kept saying, I'm not going to let this woman steal my joy. I'm just not going to let this woman steal my joy. And she said, she was making me feel so stupid, mom. And I said, well, not without your permission. Okay. First of all, but she, that's her job. She is just trying to do her job and sell you these services. And she said, yeah, but David was doing his job as well. And he didn't suck at it. I said,

No, because David was in genuine service energy, even though he probably wanted to sell a car more than that woman wanted to sell services. Do you remember when we talked about the unintentional sales pitch and specifically I had said that the words you say matter less than the energy you're coming in with.

Like you could say something as direct as please buy this for me today. You could say that in a way that doesn't feel terrible. Like, and I don't, I don't know that we would realize that necessarily. It's like, if you said a used car salesman said, please buy a car for me today. You'd think no matter how he said it, that's awful, but that's not true. You could say something that directly from a, from a place of sincerity.

with all of the love and service in the world and it would not come across that way. I loved every minute of this experience for her, for me, and for you. I could not wait to share this story. You can make something icky and weird and gross. Okay, just don't be gross.

And it won't be just be a David. And I am inclined if they call Ella or me, you know, the manager to leave a review because David's new. And what did we think? my gosh, I would sing that guy's praises all day long. He was very, I wish I had more words in my vocabulary than genuine. Somebody give me a word. He was just, he just cared. He was sincere and he was.

authentic. Okay, how fun was that story? If you took something away from today's episode, just imagine what it's like inside of Elevate. This is exactly the kind of real talk strategy and mindset coaching we do every single week. Whether you're struggling to book clients feel awkward about selling or just want a business that finally feels

aligned without the overwhelm and stress, then Elevate is the place for you. The link is always in the show notes and I would love to see you inside. And when in doubt, just be a David. I hope that you found this useful.