I've always wondered why I have never seen a scrapbook in the lobby of a car lot. Since I lease my vehicles, at least once every 5 years I find myself sitting in someone's office as I wait for a manager somewhere to decide what price to charge me. During those 5 or 10 minutes I'm sitting there, I psyche myself up to be very defensive, knowing I won't like the price, knowing I'll have to negotiate, knowing I may walk out. I also know from conversations with many other people that they too spend those 5 or 10 minutes feeling the exact same way and becoming more defensive as the seconds tick by.



What a much more pleasant experience it would be if I had a scrapbook to look through. There are so many items that a car dealership could put into their scrapbook. They could start with cars through the years. I know when the car shows are in my town, thousands of people come out to see these vintage automobiles. Not only do car designs and models change, but colors have changed over the years too.

In addition, there are sometimes special edition vehicles that come out once and then they are gone. There are also models that don't make it and are quickly removed from the line up. Photos of all of these cars would be wonderful to see.

What about photos of customers? I always see the company white boards of how many vehicles each sales person has sold, but so what? This means nothing to me. Seeing a photo of my next door neighbor making a purchase would mean a lot more. Or seeing a photo of the local newscaster would mean much more than the board with the sales person's name on it.

What about photos of other employees who work there? I was surprised to learn that a man I've known for several years as an acquaintance worked at one of the car dealerships I had walked out of on my last vehicle purchase. Perhaps he and I knowing each other could've saved the deal. Maybe not, but we'll never know.

What about photos of the car dealership out in the community helping out? I know that one local dealership is very involved in serving food at the local soup kitchen. I only know this because I've been told. How wonderful to see the salesperson who is attempting to make a sale with me, in a photo serving food at the local soup kitchen. Wow, would that give me a different perspective.

A scrapbook of all of the above would be so much nicer for the customer versus spending 10 minutes getting more and more defensive and being ready to attack when the salesperson comes back.