Negotiation is always worth it and try to do it always. It may seem it is not worth the time but it is as it will gradually reflect in your bigger purchases.
Reasons People don’t negotiate:
1. Embarrassment and Pride
People are easily embarrassed by thinking about negotiations but they should not.
Story:
I found the perfect watch it was 50 pounds and I was prepared to spend 50 pounds of course but I decided to try to negotiate to see if I could get some money off.
So I got to get the watch out of the window and they said all the lovely watches in it sir. And I tell you I really like it. I just wondered whether you would negotiate on the price of it you know. Could you reduce the price of it for me and the they said well that’s the price it is. And I said Well I know but it’s a bit more than I was planning to spend and I just wondered whether you could reduce it a little.
And she said well we’ve got we’ve got cheaper watches if you don’t want to spend that much. And I said I know the trouble is that’s the one I like and if you could reduce it a bit it would be great.
And she said well I’ll have to go and get manager and so she went off to get the manager.
And I saw her knock on the manager’s door and go in to his office and there was a sort of a window between his office and the shop with a sort of Venetian blinds on the window and I could see her talking to him and and every now and then they would look at me through the window and you could see her going. yes this guy.
And he wants to do this and the manager was going so which one is it. And they would open the blind and pointed shoes and that one there and he was going oh yeah I see what you mean here.
And they were both looking at me through the venetian blinds like that.
And my question is how would you feel at that moment when the shop assistant to the manager about looking
at you through the window talking about you and the thing is a lot of people would think oh I just want the earth to open up and swallow me up I couldn’t bear it. But you mustn’t think that you must just think it’s a game. It’s just a game I’m playing with these people.
So anyway the manager came out of the office and sort of swaggered over and said Hello Sir what seems to be the trouble. And I said well it’s not really a problem it’s just I’m hoping you could reduce the price of it. And I was thinking myself let’s see how good he is. Let’s see what he says and what he actually said was.
Well I suppose I could come down a fiver would 45 be okay and I said well I don’t know still a bit much.
Can you use it a bit more than that and he went and only got his calculator out.
He was working it out and he said about 42 and I probably should have said Well make it 40 and I’ll buy it.
But I didn’t. I just took the 42 and I said okay yeah I’ll buy it for 42. And so I got eight pounds off.
Now was it worth the pain and humiliation of being looked at through their little window for eight pounds. And the answer is yes absolutely because I got a bit of practice. I mean about eight pounds off the watch.
But next time it might be a house it might be 80000. I’m getting off to a house next time so it’s all practice and it’s practice at telling myself it’s only a game and actually there was no mental stress for me. I just went in and messed with the manager’s head and got a quid off why not. So tell yourself it’s a game. Whatever they do it’s just tactics by them
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -
2. Instead of just saying Yes or No, create a win win by trading.
Story: Instead of just reluctantly saying yes or no why not try negotiating. Suppose I’m asked to do a training course that I don’t really want to do. Suppose it’s a long way away from where I live. Quite a difficult customer let’s say instead of just saying all right I’ll do it or no I’m not doing that course. Why not negotiate. Why not just quote them a much higher price. So there’s always a way that you can negotiate. Instead of reluctantly saying yes or unhelpful saying no. Never forget there’s that third option.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
3. Fear of losing the deal
People think that by trying to negotiate you might end up losing the deal completely. Now I want to tell you it cannot happen.
If you really negotiate for a sofa don’t say 800 quid for that pile of rubbish you’ve got to be joking if you do that they might throw you out. But if you just say I love the sofa but I can’t afford it. BLAME IT ON YOURSELF. I love the sofa but I just can’t quite afford it. Could you do a better price for me.
Well the thing is you can always come back and say well your sofa is really nice and I’ll take the deal.
4. Being liked
The thing is who cares if they like you or not, probably you are not gonna see them again. In fact if you gonna pay the full price then also it doesnt mean they will like you.