It Never Hurts to Ask
My dad is a great negotiator. I can't tell you how many times growing up he got a great deal on something for our family- a car, a swimming pool, etc., because he wasn't afraid to wrangle over prices. We like to take him along when we make our own major purchases. He did great helping us get the most bang for our buck when we bought our house. I have always tried to negotiate for my own goods and services, within reasonable limits. I have honed some of my negotiating skills at garage sales and whatnot. Recently, I have discovered a new negotiating trick of my own. It is called the "it never hurts to ask" principle. It has saved us over $200 this past week. The idea is, if you ask for special treatment, sometimes, you'll get it. We took our car in this week to get the transmission fixed. Now, everyone knows that transmissions aren't cheap. So, when Coach took it in, I asked him to ask them for a discount. I figured hey, it doesn't hurt to ask, right? Well, Coach went in, basically told them his wife wanted him to ask if they could give him a discount (I'm shameless, I know), and the guy said, "um, yeah we can do that... how about 10% off?" So, on something that was going to cost a lot of money, it was way worth it to ask. Coach might have felt a little silly asking, but he was all smiles when he came back and told me my idea worked. I've had this kind of luck elsewhere. Like when I took some clothes into the Dry Cleaners. They have that "In by 9, out by 5" policy. I needed to get Coach's suit cleaned, but I didn't get it in quite by 9. It was probably around 10. But I figured, hey, it doesn't hurt to ask. So I just asked if there was any way I could get the suit back by 5. The girls bgehind the counter commiserated, and decided, yes, they could do that. So we got the suit back a whole day early, just for asking. I know there's a fine line between "it doesn't hurt to ask" and being an annoying customer exploiting the "the customer is always right" rule, but I don't think I've crossed that line. I'm glad I've figured this negotiating trick out. I've definitely made it work for me, and I think it'd make my master negotiating dad proud. So, hey, next time you're out making a purchase, large or small, just remember, it doesn't hurt to ask.
5 comments:
i think slowly in my life i am learning to be more confident about things. my attitude so often has been to just say "whatever you say" or something like that. but i need to continue to learn to be assertive. it's a slow process. but i agree that it never hurts to ask. sometimes you might just get a free meal out of it or something!
I sooooooo wish I was better at negotiating, I stink at it and always pay full price for everything. I need to bring you with me!
I'm the worst at negotiating. Just barely I was at a furniture picking up some accessories with some store credit. I had to spend the money but I didn't want to spend any out of pocket. I was happy with what I wrangled up. There was one more vase that I was debating on but it put me over my credit limit. My friend out of nowhere asks for a discount since I'm buying a group of pottery and a deduction on that vase because she found a dent in it. Just like that I had an extra vase that was $70.00 for nothing!! It all seemed so easy but I can't do it myself.
what I think is really funny about this is that Chad said "MY WIFE told me to ask you for a discount" hahaha, way to go, Chad!
Way to go! I need to take you shopping with me! I am not very good at that either. Luckily Eric is so occasionaly we come out ahead.
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