Negotiating Tips April 10, 2013

How to Tackle a Firm Price Whether You Buy as a Consumer or Professional-Part Two

To help take on a firm price, we can learn as much from little things as from big ones. The principles of testing the price on products or services are alike whether it be for a case of Scotch, a new condominium, an IBM computer or the interest rate you pay on your mortgage. We shall illustrate these techniques by testing a department store price on a refrigerator.

Sears, Macy’s or other department stores are tougher than most merchants or industrial sellers because they have a century of experience in holding the price line. If you can take on a department store, you will be able to test the price on any product or service, whether large or small. The principles are the same.

Imagine that you are in a department store. The refrigerator which you like has $1400 boldly printed on a large sign on top of it. In addition, the sign says that colors other than white are available at $30 extra, that delivery is free for 20 miles and that the deluxe ice maker is optional for $200 more. Can that price be reduced? The answer is “yes.” But you must ask for the reduction or you will never get it. NEVER.

What follows are approaches that can win concessions in any negotiation involving a seller’s or merchant’s firm price. Have the courage to try these ideas. They will work for you because they are win-win ideas.

1. Quantity. They bought a stove and refrigerator and got a discount on both. If they owned an apartment house, they might have bought two or three refrigerators instead of one and obtained an even larger discount.
2. Mixing. They bought something on which the price could not be changed together with another item that that could be reduced such as a warranty extension.
3. Payment. They paid full price in three monthly installments without interest. This, of course, is the equivalent of a discount. Or they paid cash for which they received a 3 percent discount in lieu of using a credit card. One person at our seminar learned that she could get a one-day 20 percent discount if she opened a store charge account. Since she was buying $500 of merchandise, she opened the account.

We will discuss more approaches to win concessions in our next entry.