Is that the best you can do? - Negotiating Made Simple!

“Is that the best you can do?” is a very important negotiating phrase that I use in my real estate negotiations and also in my every day life. Remember this one. It can potentially save you thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars!

It’s also a very powerful response when someone quotes you a price, which, when used correctly can save you even more.

Let me give you an example.

Today my future son-in-law, Shaun and I went into town to collect the engagement ring my daughter Stephanie had chosen.

We were also in town to look at offices to rent for a new business venture that we are starting in January, however, as you can probably imagine, the engagement ring was one of the first items on the agenda.

Going in as a team, allowed us to play the “good cop, bad cop” routine as well.

Shaun was very excited and very emotionally involved, but he was still determined to negotiate a good deal. He knew the ring was priced at just under $2,500 (it had been discounted from about $2,800) and he had a mental target of $1,900 which he wanted to get the price down to.

When he walked into the jewellery shop he presented a card to the shop assistant which had the exact description and size of the ring he wanted, and the asking price. He told her: “I’d like to pick up this ring and get your best price.”

Now please remember that he’s rather excited because this is obviously a big event (and that’s good thing from a relationship point of view). From a negotiating point of view that is not so good especially if you are faced with a skilled and experienced salesperson.<

He would have placed himself in a far more powerful position if he would have started the conversation with: “I’m here to have another look at this ring, which is one of three on my shortlist, to see if we can negotiate a good deal so I can take it with me today.”

That would have given a signal to the salesperson that they still had to work hard to get the deal over the line.

Fortunately the salesperson, came back and offered him the ring at $1,880.

Now at this point Shaun had great difficulty holding back his excitement because he would have been very happy to get the price down to $1,900.

He responded by saying something like: “Oh great.”

Now I wasn’t as emotionally involved as he was and I just couldn’t help myself. I looked the salesperson straight in the eye and asked: “Is that the best you can do?”

She said: “Yes that’s an excellent deal.”

Well not being one to take no for an answer, I continued by asking: “Oh come on, I’m sure you can do it for $1,800.”

(Now that $30 discount was enough to pay for lunch!)

I still pushed a bit harder by saying: “Thanks that’s great, but surely we can do a deal at $1,800.”

When she said: “No that’s definitely the best I can do,” I asked: “In that case, what else can you throw into the deal?”

Now that caught her off guard, because I was no longer pursuing a lower price. I was now looking for some extra value.

She looked thoughtfully at me and said: “OK, I’ll throw in this little bracelet charm.”

“Thank you, you’ve made someone very happy.”

Always remember that negotiating is a psychological game that you must practise to become really good at. At first it can be rather daunting however, the more you negotiate, the more confident you will become, the more fun you will have and the more money you will save along the way.

Even though it can be a bigger challenge when you encounter a particularly skilled salesperson, they will generally throw something into the deal, because they respect you for asking.

On the other hand, you may find some rather subordinate and unskilled salespeople who will respond by saying something like: “I’m not allowed to discount the price. My boss would sack me.”

That’s when you respond by saying: “I understand, so could you please ask your boss what type of deal he will do for me.”

I will then suggest that they need to go to the see the boss or supervisor, or ring them if they are not in the store.

Even though this generally pushes the salesperson well out of their comfort zone, it’s amazing how often you can strike a better deal.

Having said that however, there have also been cases where I’ve simply walked out of a shop and bought elsewhere because I couldn’t strike a deal.

When you are not making any headway with your negotiations and you want to go somewhere else without burning your bridges, an elegant way to keep the door open is to say something like: “Thanks for your time today. I’m interested in XYZ, however I was hoping we could negotiate a better deal so I can go ahead with my purchase today. Since that’s not the case, I’ll need to think about it for a while longer and I’ll come back to you when I’m ready. Is that OK?”

Now a clever salesperson will not let you escape if you say something like that. Sometimes they may suddenly become willing to negotiate if they can see that you are serious and will go elsewhere.

In other cases, it gives you the opportunity to research other outlets and if you can’t do any better, you can still come back without losing face.

The more research you do beforehand, the more options you will have and the better you’ll be able to negotiate.

Here are my Top 10 Negotiating Tips in a Nutshell:

1. Never appear too enthusiastic to buy when you approach a salesperson. Always give them the impression that you have not yet decided to buy. You are just considering the possibilities.
2. Start your negotiations with something like: “If I were to buy this item today, what sort of deal could you do for me?”
3. When they respond, ask: “Is that the best you can do?”
4. Whatever they say, you need to continue to haggle by saying something like: “Oh come on, surely you can do it for $X”
5. If they say no, come back with a counter offer. You might say: “What about $Y?”
6. Once you feel you’ve gone as far as you can go on the price, ask for something else to be thrown into the deal.
7. Don’t be afraid to ask to speak to the boss or a supervisor to ask for a better deal.
8. Being willing to walk away from the deal is an important strategy when you are negotiating, however, always leave the door open for future negotiations.
9. The more research you do before you start your negotiations, the more options you will have and the harder you’ll be able to negotiate.
10. Finally, when you are happy with the deal, show your gratitude to the salesperson by thanking them and telling them they’ve made someone very happy.

If you’d like to learn more about negotiating please click here

Warm Regards,
Hans Jakobi - Australia's Wealth Coach

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