I think that one of the most single handed tools I cherish is my ability to negotiate. I think that every person reading my blog needs to understand how important negotiations are. Most of us are familiar with the tough negotiation we see in the movies, The ones that have the tough leverage and the mean poker faces. I’m not so much talking about that as much as the everyday passive negotiation. My rule is always to challenge everything! If you see a price for $10 then it might be $7 then again it might be $5. It all depends on how bad the other person “needs” to sell and your real ability to walk away.
Some of the people I talk to tell me that they don’t need to be a tough negotiator or they can just get by without challenging issues. Well if you are gonna do that then GO GET A JOB MAN! You will save yourself the headaches and someone will withhold taxes for you and at the end of the year they will even be nice enough to send you a W-2. If that’s not you then keep reading.
When you get a chance practice your skills because chances are if your new to this, you suck. That’s ok cause you will get better. Do it with everything and yes I mean EVERYTHING. If you make your friends and family nervous and anxious when you do it then you are doing it right! Now all that being said I want to add a disclaimer here. I don’t want you going around trying to haggle hard working individuals and I sure as heck don’t want you taking advantage of less fortunate ones. That comes with a double edge sword as well: Don’t get taken yourself!
I had a wonderful person by the name of Scott Hansen help me with my first negotiation task. My problem is that I had to have an emergency crash course in negotiation. I didn’t have time to practice. I was in the middle of a business relationship with a partner that didn’t want to be part of the company and quite frankly, I didn’t want him there anymore either. It’s sad but hey that’s partnerships. (We can talk about those another day.) I sat down with Mr. Hansen who had just negotiated a huge corporate takeover. I told him my plight and he looked at my paperwork. After he examined everything he remained silent. He looked over at me and I will never forget his words. He said: “Jeremy, this is going to be fun!” I remember clearly not sharing his sentiments but I do remember thinking this was the most frightening thing I have ever done. (I can top that one… we will save that for another day too.) He coached me on exactly what to say. He explained the ins and outs of negotiation and the human psychology behind it. It was clear as mud but you know what, it worked and ever since that day I practiced on everything that came my way.
When you get back into a heated negotiation you end up coasting thru it like eating ice cream. Before you know it, It’s over! Recently I had the same experience while negotiating a piece of property. I think that every one of you needs to go to some place where you would think they would NEVER IN A MILLION years negotiate with you. Then try it!
I was at a high end suit makers store and I like the suit, it fit me well! The price was actually fine. They wanted $700 and I was prepared to fork it over but then I realized that I didn’t even try to negotiate. I asked the lady: “If I walk out of this store today with this suit would you sell it to me for $500?” She looked at me like I was standing their naked. I asked again. She said:”Oh, well your serious.. ahem.. well I don’t know if I can reduce the price sir.” Then I politely looked in her eyes and said: “who does?” I eventually got to the decision maker. I bought the suit that day for $650. Hey it’s not $500 but you know what I made $50 just by running my mouth.
So stop reading… go practice! Go run your mouth and make some money!