Closing the Deal:
How to use car sales tactics
to get your guy to propose.
By Lisa Daily
One of the most common questions
I get from readers is how to get a boyfriend
to the altar. For guys, getting engaged is
a lot like buying a new car: It’s a pretty
scary decision to ponder, it’s utterly
terrifying when you actually get up the nerve
to make the offer, and absolutely fabulous
when you finally get to take her home.
Well girls, if a guy in a plaid
polyester suit and a bad rug can get your
man to sign on the dotted line, so can you.
All you need to know are a few tricks of the
trade.
He has to be in the market.
If you’re not in the market
for a new car, it doesn’t matter if they
use live gorillas or a big pile of cash -
nothing is going to get you into the showroom
if you don’t want to be there. The same
is true for marriage. You can hint, beg and
plead all you want, but if he’s not interested
in what you’re selling, there’s
nothing you can do to make him buy. We hear
ads for car dealerships hundreds of times
a day, 365 days a year, but we tune them out
until we’re actually ready to consider
buying. The lesson here: When he’s in
the market, he’ll let you know.
Make sure he can pass the
credit check.
A lot of times we’re so
worried about whether or not he wants to marry
us, we don’t take the time to make sure
we want to marry him. I’m not talking
about money here – I’m talking about
the important things, like honesty, kids,
education and family. Are his scores up to
your standards? You don’t want to lose
out on more qualified buyers because you’re
spending all your energy trying to make a
deal with somebody who doesn’t make the
grade.
Don’t try to sell him
a minivan if what he really wants is a flashy
sports model.
The fact is, a guy already knows
what he wants by the time he walks into the
dealership. The same is true in relationships.
If your guy doesn’t want kids, spends
all his time alone on a sailboat, and loves
his African art collection, don’t try
to talk him into a suburban daddy lifestyle.
You may pressure him into the deal, but it
won’t be long before he’s miserable
and suffering from buyers’ remorse. It
won’t be long before he’ll start
figuring out a way to trade you in for the
model he really wanted.
He needs to know the model
he wants (you) won’t be on the showroom
floor forever.
One of the greatest fears in
buying a new car is that if we leave the showroom,
the car we really want will be snatched up
by somebody else unless we make an offer right
away. The same is true for men: If he thinks
you’ll be waiting around forever while
he makes a decision, he’ll have no incentive
to act now. On the other hand, if he knows
you may not be available if he takes too much
time deciding, he’ll be more inclined
to lock in the deal and get the one he wants
today.
He has to know there are
others buyers in the market.
Nothing is more appealing than
a car that everybody wants and nobody can
get. So what happens when there are a lot
of buyers in the market, and not enough cars
to go around? The waiting list. At all times
you’re not in an exclusive relationship,
try dating at least three men at a time. Men
are intensely competitive, and their attraction
to you will increase tenfold if they sense
another buyer in the showroom. Plus, you’ll
have a backup or two if a promising deal falls
through. In the meantime, all your potential
buyers will be trying to figure out how he
can wiggle his way to the top of your list.
Give him a test drive.
Every day of your dating relationship
is like a test drive for marriage, and from
day one, he’s evaluating how you perform.
Is your relationship a smooth ride? Does it
work with his lifestyle? Or does it break
down every few weeks? Either way, he’s
relying on the test drive when it comes to
making the big decision to buy. Your guy has
to feel like you’re the model he can
live with. (At least until the loan is paid
off.)
Ring the bell when the deal
is made.
The final car sales tactic is
ringing the bell when the deal is made. Once
he’s made the deal, the car salesman
rings a big bell, and everybody in the showroom
stops what they’re doing to congratulate
the new buyer. Even though the deal hasn’t
been signed yet, it’s a way to make him
feel good about his decision, and keep him
from backing out once he sees what the sunroof
is going to cost. The same is true for proposals.
Make sure you announce to the crowd, friends
and family the fabulous, romantic way in which
your guy has just proposed. Everybody will
congratulate him like crazy, he’ll feel
a happy rush of emotion, and you will seal
the deal.
TV Dating Coach Lisa
Daily is the bestselling author of two
dating books Stop
Getting Dumped!, How
to Date Like a Grownup and the totally
relatable and hilarious, Romantic Times
Readers' Choice Award novel Fifteen
Minutes of Shame. You’ve seen her
everywhere from Entertainment Tonight
to the HITCH movie DVD
