What’s your best offer?? Don’t feel alone if you don’t like to bargain.

 

Once I was on a cruise with a Chrysler Dealer Group to Istanbul, Turkey and Tammy and I were going into the Grand Bazaar, (a huge market place in turkey). As Tammy and I were walking in a large group of dealers and their wives were coming out.

 

Several of them said to us, “You don’t want to go in there you have to negotiate for anything, it’s cut throat.”

 

We couldn’t help but laugh, these were car dealers saying that negotiating was cut throat.

 

Tammy and I went in, had a great time and got some really great values.

  

You were a born negotiator, listen to a child negotiate their bed time,

Mom, “Johnny, it’s time to go to bed.”

Johnny, “Ah mom, can I stay up 30 more minutes?”

Need I say more? You know where it went from there.

 

Abraham you may recall even tried it with God:Genesis 18: 23-27 “And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city;”

 Abraham came down slowly: Fifty to Forty Five to Thirty to twenty His final word on it verses 33: Suppose ten should be found there?”

 

Though many feel it’s crooked or cut throat much of life is negotiated so how should we approach it?

 

 Negotiating styles 

 

·        Competitive Style: To try to gain all there is to gain…most kids

·        Accommodative Style: To be willing to yield all there is to yield…many parents

·        Avoiding Style: To try to stay out of negotiation…most car buyers

·        Compromising Style: To try to split the difference or find an intermediate point according to some principle…the middle man…usually the salesman

·        Collaborative Style: As it should be: To try to find the maximum possible gain for both parties – by careful exploration of the interests of all the parties

 

Now How About Some Strategies, (Just Three For Today).

 

1.     If I could would you? (The car dealer basic). 

Every car dealer I have ever known uses this one. The concept behind it is to get the other party to commit to something so that at least you know that there is a possibility of a closing. Essentially this strategy is a starting point to get things going.

 

         Examples:  the dealer side

§         If I can get the price down to $12,000 would you buy it?

§         If I could get your payments down to $250 a month would you sign the papers?

 

Examples: for the customers

§         If I sign today would you throw in a navigation system?

§         If I finance with you can you throw in an extended warranty? (Most customers don’t realize how much better a deal they might get if they finance with the dealer. The rates are often competitive and the dealer gets a cut of that money, so thinking the dealer would rather you pay cash is a myth. You may leverage that extra income is a good strategy.)

 

Parents may find this one to their advantage by asking Johnny, “If I let you stay up that extra 30 minutes how about spending ten of them picking up your toys?”

 

2.     Getting Leverage

By discovering what is important to the other party you can often use that information to negotiate a win, win.

Examples:  the Dealers side

§         I know you wanted to stay below $20,000 but if I can get your payments under $300 would that work?

§         I know you wanted to get the blue one but if I could get you another $500 for your trade would you take the one in stock?

    

Examples: for the customer’s side

§         How long do you keep a used car in stock before you write it down? Followed by: How long have you had this one?

 

§         Does your company have a Volume quota or payment? Followed by: If I come back at the end of that period, how much less can I pay?

 

3. Finding the Alternative

This is an exploration of what may be important to the other party that would allow them to win beyond some sticking point. Quite often negotiations break down over price when you may save the deal by switching to an older car in stock or getting the color the customer really wants and that would be worth that other $200 to them.

 

Legend has it that the world’s greatest car salesman passed this strategy on to future generations on his death bed when asked of the secret to his phenomenal success in sales he was reported to have said in his last words, “switch em”…

 

Examples: the Dealer’s side

§         I know you wanted to stay at $15,000 difference but what if I could get you $15,500 with 2% interest?

§         How about this demo that has 600 miles on it?

 

Examples: for the Customer’s side

§         What if I order the car and wait on it? (the dealer pays no interest on it and in fact gets a interest credit in many cases)

§         Do you have a low mileage used one?

 

 

So What’s “The Offer You Can’t Refuse”?

 

The word offer occurs 236 times in 213 verses in the KJV version of the bible. One of the first uses of the word in the Bible is in:Gen 22:2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only [son] Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

 

You can’t help but see this as, “the offer we can’t refuse”. God offered His only Son, Jesus on the cross. That whoever accepts this offer of forgiveness, Jesus death in payment for my disobedience, would have everlasting life. Now that’s what I call a done deal.

 

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