If New Immigrants Are Dull and Rich, Why don’t I Bamboozle Them?
Let me tell you how a finance manager sets up a trap
As a finance manager in a car dealership, I help people who want to buy a car but can’t pay it off one time to get a loan from the bank.
Neither the bank nor my customers are stupid. When I negotiate the rate with them, I have to constantly test both parties’ bottom lines to maximum my benefit.
Thanks to some new immigrate, my talent has been greatly utilized. These newcomers don’t have any experience in the country. If they are rich, they are big fish. Only a silly finance manager would let them slip away.
Well, this kind of chance is rare. Recently, I ran into a little luck.
A grandmother and her grandson from my country came to my dealership to have a look at cars. The boy fell in love with a sports car in 2017 at the first glance.
There was only one problem. Due to the restriction in their country, they couldn’t exchange their money right now. So, they needed a loan from the bank to drive the car away as soon as possible.
Very quickly, I made three financial plans for them. The following is how I launched my plans step by step:
My first try: Plan A
“6.89%? a high rate! We could get one for a house just 2–3%.”
“I see. This is a high rate in comparison with the house rate, but a house costs much more than a used car.”
“That’s true. You are right.”
“Actually 6.89% was the original one by the bank. I have negotiated with them and the new rate is now 5.89%, how does it sound?”
“Hmmm, it is still a little high.”
“I see, but if I told you what benefit you would get, you wouldn’t feel this way.”
I turned my computer screen to them. There was a picture of a car without a shell.
“See, this is the inside of a car. All of the parts except some hard wares like engine are not guaranteed by the car manufacturer”.
“No? but the salesman told us that there are 6 months of warranty remaining for this car.”
“That’s right. Like I told you, only some hard wares are inclusive, not the other parts, especially the electronic parts are not inclusive.”
“Do you mean that we would get an almost naked car if we paid it by cash?”
“Yes, you would. Do you know how expensive if you have to replace one damaged electronic part? $3000!!! And with my finance plan, you would never worry about your car. We give you full-size insurance, including exchanging every part if it got damaged. And this package would give you towing service and tire guarantee for 5 years too.”
“A package?”
“Yes, a package! It costs just a little more than $4000. According to my financial plan , your finance period will take 5 years. A monthly down payment based on the new rate will be only $423.”
They considered for a while but refused my plan. This was my expectation. Don’t worry!
Time for Plan B
I showed my understanding and gave them a new option.
“Do you know how cold it is here in winter? And do you know how often it snows? When it snows, the road will be covered by salt, not the salt you have at home, but a kind of liquid salt. And all of the salts would be absorbed by your car. Do you know how would this affect your car chassis? It would be rust completely.”
My words worked; I saw panic in their eyes.
“If $4.000 was too expensive for you, I could provide you a package which includes thoroughly remove the rust on the chassis of your car. I promise you that our team is professional and will do this job excellently. Additionally, I could give you 5 years guarantee for your tires and wheel hub. This package costs just around $1.700 inclusive tax. This would be the best offer I could give you.”
From $4.000 down to $1.700 sounds attractive. They were almost touched. But the grandmother looked at her watch and said, “it is still early in my country, but I will call my son and ask his opinion about the rust issue.”
Now you would say, “you have wasted your time! They are not stupid!”
You are right. They made a call and then they refused my plan B either.
My last hope: Plan C
“As a new and young driver, you would encounter tire punctures often. I recommended strongly that you at least buy the tire insurance. It costs only $630! For 5 years, you wouldn’t need to worry about your tiers. They would be completely replaced if they got damaged.”
Finally, I made them feel guilty to reject my plan C. In the end, they took my advice and bought the tire insurance. I didn’t tell them that there were fees for making a financial plan.
Whew! Although I’m not satisfied, my time and energy were not in vain. At least my plan C has been realized.
You might have already noticed my tricks in the above negotiation.
1. Give your customers a higher rate, then a lower one. This kind of comparison makes the lower one stand out.
2. Now display your plan A! To receive the lower rate, the customer has to fill some additional conditions. Logical, right?
3. If the customer thinks plan A is too expensive, give them plan B. In comparison, plan B seems much more attractive than plan A. Customers would feel that they made a profit.
4. In the end, if both plans didn’t work, you could still take out the last option. Now the customers have been set up in the trap. On one side, they feel sorry to have rejected you twice; on the other side, in comparison with plans A and B, plan C is just a peanut. They would be happy to pick up a big bargain.
The “Carrot and stick” strategy is always invincible!
The biggest pain point of new immigrants is fear. Their English is not good and they have very little knowledge of the new country. As long as I magnify their fears (stick), at the same time show them attractive offers (carrot) through comparison, they will involuntarily follow my baton.
But if you as a newcomer are open mind and try your best to integrate with the local culture and the society, you don’t belong to my preys.
Good luck to you!
Are you new to a country? How do you feel as a newcomer?
Thank you for reading! In case you are interested in more fiction short stories.
