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 Ted Lindsay
For someone who spent a lifetime in the fascinating automobile-sales business, writing a book was only one of those jokes you tell while lifting your favorite cold beverage. Over the span of my career, literally hundreds of people told me that I needed to write a book. The very idea haunted me for years, thinking that I just couldn’t because I didn’t know how. Eventually I realized I could, and I thank Joe McCullough of AuthorHouse for making publishing simple.
The reason I chose to work in, and write a book about, the automobile-sales business is deep-seated. To many Americans, cars and trucks are a way of life. Owning and buying cars is one of the most talked-about subjects at just about any gathering I attend. To many, we are what we drive.
That being said, the very thought of buying a car makes most of us anxious and guarded. There seems to be a certain level of fear for anyone shopping for a car. Why is this? I have interviewed hundreds of automobile buyers who have all said primarily the same thing: Customers feel they have to be on guard to avoid the advertising and sales tactics of a car salesman working against them, instead of for them.
I love the car business. It is not an industry born of the devil. It is made up of hard-working, regular people who happen to be part of the emotionally charged activity of buying a new car or truck. But the car industry, just like any other industry, does have a negative culture that has broad influence. I wanted to write The Encyclopedia of Selling Cars to help salesmen escape and avoid the negative culture of the industry by providing a road map to attain tremendous sales success and to feel good about oneself and the customers throughout the process.
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But how do you get started writing a book? I have a fantastic story to tell, but where do I start? I simply started making outlines, and over time, continually expanded them. There were mountains of handwritten papers all over the place. The madness started with a one-page outline, then two papers, then ten, then forty, and then more. Where in the world am I going? What am I doing? It’s going to take ten years to write this book. I need to give up—but I can’t.
My main strength is not necessarily the written word, but rather my ability to express and communicate my feelings through speaking. How can I get this to paper? I had to find a better way because my outline-expansion idea was taking an eternity, notwithstanding the accompanying writer’s cramp in my hand. What can I do?
I decided to get creative, and hired a court reporter. You know, one of those stoic people who don’t talk back. Perfect, I thought. I can take my expanded outlines, sit down, and without interruption, verbalize my entire book over a couple of days and get it done. It was a novel idea, but you know what? It worked for me. It took just a day and a half to finish “telling” my book.
About five days later, I had a thick, typed transcript that I used to refine and smooth off the rough edges until I had a manuscript ready to publish with AuthorHouse. Once I had finished the last word, AuthorHouse helped me get from manuscript to a final published product ready to sell.
Much to my amazement, many readers of The Encyclopedia of Selling Cars, in all areas of sales and business, have told me their investment of time was rewarded. The book has helped them better understand the sales process, and the benefits are both professional and personal. Many commented on the “Ted-isms” in the book that provide individual motivation and direction.
Once people began to read my book and give me feedback, I realized my book had gone from an idea I had for years to actually helping other people, and that’s no joke.
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