You can negotiate anything
Have you ever wondered how certain people always get the best deals? When you are trying to save money and be frugal, you learn quickly how to get a good deal. In this short article I will tell you how to negotiate for anything you buy and save money in the process.
First rule to remember is that you can negotiate for anything. This rule applies to any purchase you make. You have to remember that you are in control and if you don’t like the deal, you can walk away. The best places to make a deal are from salesmen who work on commission. These people live paycheck to paycheck and their pay is based on what they sell. They will do anything (with-in reason) to close the deal. I am going to use just a couple of short examples to get you started but it is up to you negotiate the best deal for yourself.
The first deal I will mention is the big one, buying a car. Doing research is important prior to any deal but especially when buying a car. Consumer Report is good a long with Kelly Blue Book to do research on cars. When I went to buy our last new car, the first words out of the saleswoman’s mouth was how much were you looking for as a payment. Do not fall for this!! You can work out terms later; find out how much you are paying first. Dealers often entice you with low payments and tack on up to two more years to pay for it. Once you know the price you can start to work them down. Mine started with a $1500 rebate, and the saleswoman said that would be the best deal I could find. My wife was excited and wanted the car but I was a rock. First they dropped off a good faith $500 and said that was the bottom line. I said thanks for their time and got up to leave. That’s when the real fun starts!! She asked what it would take to buy today and I told them to pay my down payment of another $500 and I would take it. This made the car $3800 below blue book value. The saleswoman had to go and talk to her boss (another tactic to make it look like they are bending over for you). They agreed to my demand and said it would take an hour to process the paperwork and register the car. We left with my wife excited about the new car and returned in an hour. When I went to sign the paperwork, they tried the old switch, they put the $500 down payment back in the loan, I said that was not our agreement and they tried to convince me that it was. This is the point where you have to be willing to walk away. I knew they needed me more than I needed them. Another tip I learned was to buy at the last day of the month because the stores and the salespeople are trying to make their monthly quota/goal. I purchased this car the last day in July. Long story short, I got the deal I wanted and walked away with great terms and a great price. Anybody can do it, EVEN YOU!!!
Another deal was when I bought a computer; I like Circuit City because their sales people are on commission and want to make the sale. I went in knowing what I wanted and what I wanted to pay. I use this example because sometimes you can’t always get a cheaper price but they might give you something. The price was great on the computer and the salesman would not budge on the price. So I did the next best thing, I asked for upgrades (for free of course). Many times when you buy something like a car or a computer, upgrades are cheap for the business but they make a huge profit on the mark-up. I ended up getting a better hard drive, an extra memory chip and a superior monitor upgrade for free.
These are a couple of examples of how negotiated some deals, another way is if you buy a product that was damaged or a part is not working. We bought a freezer seven years ago and when it was delivered, the back had a dent on it. I stopped the guys from bringing it in the house and called the salesman. He gave the old 10% discount offer and I told him I will have them load it back up and bring it back and cancel the order. It was 92 degrees outside and the guys were not very happy at this point. Once again, I knew I had the upper hand. No salesman wants to deal with angry delivery guys at the end of the day, plus he did not want to lose the commission he made. I ended up with a 35% discount and the dent was hid from site when I put the freezer against the wall. Don’t settle for less than you can get and once again be willing to walk away from the deal.
Sometimes you just want to pay a better price for a service you use all the time. I have a satellite dish because I can’t get cable and I have been with the same company for many for 11 years. I have called four times to negotiate a discount or a free upgrade. I call and tell them I want to disconnect my service (this only works if you are willing to follow through). Every time, they send me to the retention department, whose job is to keep a customer, and they always want to know why I am leaving. Twice I just said I couldn’t afford it right now. The first time they cut my price in half for a year and gave me a free movie package and the second time they gave me $7 a month off and a free movie package for 6 months. The other two time was because my equipment was having problems and out of warranty and I wanted to replace it (for free of course). The answer was no until I was switched to the retention department and BINGO, I got the receivers replaced with better equipment. You have to remember that it cost a lot of money to get a new customer; these service providers will do anything to keep a loyal customer. This does not work if you are always late on your bill and of course you must be willing to walk away from the deal.
These give you examples of what can be negotiated if you take the time and are willing to walk away. Always remain calm, be polite, and give respect and you can negotiate just about anything you ever want to purchase.
Good Luck and Be Frugal!!