I am beyond fascinated by an article I just read in the Washington Post called, “In tough economic times, shoppers take haggling to new heights.” Michael Rosenwald, a Washington Post writer, decided for a week that he would try to haggle down the price of everything he bought.
In one week he saved $730! He haggled at Macy’s and Best Buy, and even hired a professional to help him haggle down the price of his Verizon bill.
This article proves what I’ve always known to be true that everything is negotiable. And I don’t just mean money-wise. For Millennials at work and in life everything is negotiable too.
Allan Stark, the professional Rosenwald hired, gave some awesome tips for haggling that I believe apply well to life too:
1. Know your negotiating partner. Be technical if she is knowledgeable. Be a good ‘ol boy if he is the same.
2. Know the product or service you’re trying to buy. Negotiating skills are worthless if you don’t fully understand what you are negotiating.
3. Know the value of humor. The future of humankind is probably not at stake.
4. Know the value of being nice and empathetic. It will come back to you many times over.
5. Know when to stop. Enough is enough. Sometimes more gets you less.
What do you think? Is everything negotiable?
What are you willing to bargain for?
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I do think that everything is potentially negotiable. I offer one more tip. In any negotiation, you need to be prepared to walk away. For example, let’s say you have found your dream house to buy. The price the seller is asking is ridiculous and no matter how much you try the seller won’t budge – mostly because they are operating under the assumption that you want the house so badly, you’ll cave to his/her full price. So in that case, no matter how much you love the house , you walk away. Being prepared to walk away is the key in any negotiation.