Bill Edwards | The Anniston Star

You have to be a bit of a psychologist to persuade people to part with thousands of dollars for transportation, but that's what vehicle salespeople do every day - regardless of the economy.

They do it at hot asphalt lots, they always have to smile and they have to know their product.

But Howard Reid, whose sales territory happens to be at Sunny King Honda, said he wouldn't trade the job of selling new and used cars there for anything else.

"If they come this far, they're off the beaten path," Reid said. "There's a reason they come here, and we're concerned to find out what that reason is."

So when Reid does meet-and-greet, he has a purpose, and, at the moment, the expectation that he and the potential customer are entering a partnership: He knows about the cars, and the customer is seeking knowledge to make a decision on whether to buy.

"You have to be interested in helping people," he said. "If you're not, they're gonna know it."

Reid said he tells young salesmen, "You want to make these people glad they met you."

Then the hard part begins.

The test drives. The chit-chat. The arcane information that seasoned buyers might seek.

"You're gonna need some patience. If you don't have patience, you don't need to be in the car business," Reid said, noting that it's not a 1-2-3 process.

For example, a customer might state an aversion to a minivan because of its image. She wants a crossover SUV. But after a few questions, Reid might determine it's in her interest to at least take a test drive in a van. Sometimes, it's the better route to go.

He said his goal in helping a person choose a car "is to make sure it's the car you should have bought."

After the sale, a salesman, if he's won a friend, should expect that person to call him back for service-related issues, even though it's not his specialty.

"You want them to know they can call you," he said.

Even in these bust-and-boom days for selling cars, Reid says, "I really don't have what I consider to be an aggravating part of the job. You're happy when the deal is made and they've bought the right car for their needs."

Readers who know of interesting jobs - or perhaps common jobs that involve more than meets the eye - are invited to e-mail bedwards@annistonstar.com for a possible write-up for "Off to Work."

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"There's not a better job in the business," he declared, recalling that he got the King job back in 1986 thanks to the confidence that the late Bill Newton, used car manager, had in him.

"I thought I was the luckiest fellow in town," Reid said.

A 1961 graduate of Ohatchee High School - and looking nowhere near 66 years old (it means the job agrees with him, he noted) - Reid counts the Air Force, the gas company and an auto parts store as previous experience.

"This is just basically an evolution into the other end of the business," he said. Early in his career he soon learned what's true and what's not about the business.

"The biggest fallacy about the car business," Reid said, "is that people are not as trustworthy. In this business, if you're not trustworthy, you're not gonna be in it long."

A typical sales day consists first of being aware of what's going on in the sales lot. Forty years ago and more, when car dealers were all downtown - King was at 110 E. 11th St., a couple blocks one way from the Oldsmobile dealer, a couple blocks the other way from the Chrysler dealer, and right next door to the Chevrolet dealer - casual pedestrians might have been part of the mix.

But today, although the Honda sales complex on U.S. 78 East is striking, a person probably won't find himself there accidentally.