28 Jan 2026 · 4 min
Jeff Watson and Luke argue that low-ball offers aren't insults but leads. A polite response to a lowball can convert them into a customer or future sale. They close with a teaser for an upcoming interview with Jim Rhodes, a buy-here, pay-here dealer expert.
Chapters
All right, happy Monday, guys. Hope you guys everyone is geared up for an amazing week. Obviously, we're in the heat of tax season. We are moving and shaking. People got money in their pockets, and when people got money in their pockets, the IQs drop.
Trust me.
I live right outside Las Vegas. I see what happens when people have money in their pockets. But also, Luke, I mean, I'm getting some real awesome offers on my online stuff, man. You know, I got $5,000 cash money right now if you'll take it on my $10,000 Subaru. Like, how do I respond to those Lukes? I'm of the opinion that everybody wants a deal, and you can't fault them.
No, you can't.
I've been to Tijuana. I know how this works. I know the haggle. I mean, come on. Sometimes we want to blame the customers for doing the exact same thing that we do all the time. If we ripped a car at the auction for half of mmr, should we feel guilty? Should we feel bad?
What you should do is you should treat that customer properly. And first of all, you've got to think about what you're trying to sell on Facebook, marketplace. So I don't want to hear y' all continually get out there and say, oh, my God, look at what this customer offered me for a car, knowing good and well that you would have offered the same thing for that car, trying to steal it. So I don't want to hear that is a lead, Jeff. You know what you do with the lead? You try to convert that lead you try to convert into a sale. Educate them. This is why we're asking this. And your cash offer doesn't do me any good because this was a cash offer anyway. I'm trying to sell you this car. Let's take the $5,000 you do have and find the proper car for you or. Or get you the best price on this $10,000 car that I have. And once you see the best price and I explain it to you, maybe you'll buy it. Don't blow that customer out. That customer is going to buy a car somewhere, Jeff.
Yeah. And what I feel like, because of my marketing strategies, because I'm very much in the face of the consumer in my area. I am sometimes that first. I'm that first line of defense. I'm like the first guy that takes the shot right to the face because I'm having to educate that customer, you know, and they're coming to me with zero credit score and this. Or they're coming to Me with these crazy, ridiculous offers because they're just testing the market right now.
Not only that, somebody offering you $5,000 for a $10,000 car, that might be the most money they've ever had in their life. And you may insult them by going, that's a great down payment. That is not a response. Get off that people. That's not a response. Treat that customer like you would want to be treated. Let's just say, let's say that I was looking for a piece of property and I found it. And actually this happened with us like, you know, not too long ago. I was looking for a house in the mountains and I found the house I want. But the house is more than I can honestly can afford to spend. But it'd been on the market for a while. So you know what I did? I shot them a low offer. Low ball offer, Low ball offer. Guess what? They didn't, they didn't even respond to my offer. Right. Well, if they would have responded, I might could have come up a little bit. But this, that and other. But they wouldn't even take it. Now, I was probably too low. But don't get mad at a customer that does the same thing to you because at some point you're gonna do the same thing to someone selling something. So keep that in mind when you, when you're out there doing that.
And what I think is also interesting is look down the road further. They might have low balled you with a thousand dollars on your $5,000 car. But guess what? They're going to land that thousand dollars car somewhere, let's say, and it's going to blow up in two to three months or they're going to want to trade that thing in. In two to three to four months. You're going to be the dealer that helped them out and let them down the road the right way. You know, you're going to be the most, the best option for them in two to three months.
You're so right, Jeff. What if they shot that thousand dollar offer to 10 dealers and you were the only one that wrote back and said, we really appreciate your offer. Unfortunately, we can't take that. This is what we can do. Do you have any interest, let's say one out of ten dealers sent that back to them and the other nine said get off my lot, this, that and other. Who do you think they're going to buy from when that car blows up, Jeff? Yeah, so keep that in mind. Treat people like you want to be treated and I promise you it will come back tenfold.
Awesome. Luke, great advice for this week. Everybody should be a good person, you know, that's it.
It's not that hard.
Be good, do good. Stay tuned for our episode. This Thursday, we're going to be speaking with Jim Rhodes. Buy here, Pay here dealers definitely want to tune in. This guy, he's a master at the buy here, pay here startup and fine tuning your operations, so tune in.