Negotiating is OK!
Many Americans believe that negotiating is negative. That it makes you look cheap. That it means that you cannot afford something. Others figure that if they ask and someone says no, they have lost nothing. If someone says yes, then you saved yourself some money. Pure and simple.
Many societies consider negotiating a natural part of the buying process. Maybe we should follow their attitude. Think about how much money you could save if everything was at a 5% discount. It would give you the ability to have more money to purchase other items, how could that be bad? It might provide the ability to save money for a long term goal such as retirement or a college education.
Start thinking of it this way – you are creating your own sale. Stores put items on sale all the time to move them out so that inventory can turnover. To get rid of items that may be damaged or out of style. To provide room for new items. Maybe an item is not on sale this week. Was it on sale last week? Is it going to be on sale next week? In both cases, the store manager may be grateful to get rid of an item now.How many stores offer a price match guarantee? Is this not a type of negotiation to get you to purchase a product there rather than at a competitor?
If you are getting a quote for services and consider it too high, why not try to compromise? The individual providing the service needs to make money so you should not ask for a 40% or 50% discount, but why not a 5% or 10% discount? For the contractor that 5% may be the difference between having a job to do that week and receiving no money at all that week.
If you feel uncomfortable asking for a discount, then give something up in return and consider it an exchange. Maybe for the contractor he would be willing to accept that discount if the services were performed during his off-season. Maybe the store manager would be willing to discount the item if you purchased two of them thereby increasing his profitability. Maybe you agree to pay cash and save the store from having to pay the merchant fees on a credit card transaction.
Anything should be considered negotiable.
If the bananas are starting to turn brown, you know they are going to have to thrown them away soon so wouldn’t the store be better off selling them at a discount. If a product is near its expiration date would they rather sell it at a discount than not at all.
Doctors are continually willing to write off co-pays that create a burden for patients.
Your local cable or telephone company is probably always running sales to attract new clients. They are often willing to give those same discounts for the asking to try and retain a current client – it costs them less to retain a current customer than to try and win over a new one.
If you are willing to visit your hairdresser, therapist, chiropractor or other service professional during their slow time, would they not rather have that income at a discount than no income at all? As a tax preparer, I will often offer discounts to a clients who goes on extension and files after April 15th. It gives me the time to put in a full-pay client during the tax season time and still have income after the season.
If it is the end of the month, the end of the quarter or the end of the year oftentimes there are quotas that need to be met and the salesman may be willing to make the sale rather than be under-quota for the period.
Start small and get comfortable negotiating. Just because a manager says no does not mean everyone will. If the first one says no, try a second or third. There are thousands of people out there not paying full price for anything. Why shouldn’t you be one of them?
