Push for a little more than they may initially give you for trade, and insist on some kind of a discount, but don't expect them to come up $1500 from their initial quote on the trade and sell you the CR-Z at $500 under invoice when there's no marketing support, nor reason to give away cars which are still uncommon in the market.
If you're reasonable, they'll be reasonable. While it may not be universally so, most of my fellow car salesmen are good folks, deal in an honest fashion, and provide curteous, reliable, and knowledgeable service to our customers. Don't expect them to give an inch of money past what they have to however, nor fault them for asking on more than one occasion (without being a pest) for the business. That should be expected and they would fail and be fired in the long run otherwise. You would do the same so put yourself in their shoes.
As an aside, I've found that the successful salesmen do many of the same things as the unsuccessful ones. It seems that the failing ones simply lack the skill to show persistence and attempt to hold money in their valuable product without annoying their clients. That's the key. It's not what the salesman does or says, but how they say and do it. On more than one occasion I've done business with a client who came in and had to deal with a pushy salesman before visiting with me. Of course, I also try to hold money in my product, and asked for same day business, but I'm friendly, build a rapport first, demonstrate my eagerness to be helpful and my product knowledge. I also identify my customer's threshhold for me asking for the business and negotiation. Sometimes it's best to just to back off and pick things up with a fresh perspective on the next day and maintain good rapport. I try to remind folks that car salesmen aren't masocists. Negotiating, is a requirement of the job, but it's certainly my least favorite part. As long as a client aren't being rude and giving me the Heisman Trophy the whole damn time, I really just enjoy getting to know the various folks who come through my doors.
It is really odd how some customers (the minority mind you) will come through the door and treat their salesman like crap, acting aggressively toward him or her and outright lying at times, and feel morally justified merely because their profession is "car salesman" despite the fact that the salesman may genuinely be a nice person. They ultimately behave in exactly the way they hate ironically.
Most folks are reasonable though, and reasonable folks understand the car sales is what it is, and if you have a good rapport with someone, when it comes down to negotiating, you really can both just "agree to disagree" hope that you can come to terms, and if not, part as friends.
