- 1). Think "win-win." Approach the negotiation with an attitude of mutual advantage. As Stephen Covey noted in "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People," people are generally more willing to do business with you if they can clearly see what's in it for them. Begin your negotiation by assessing what the business would gain from dealing with you.
- 2). Assess your bottom line. You should have both a dollar limit (how much you are willing to pay) and a volume limit (how much of the product or service you want to purchase). Establish hard maximums early. You don't need to vocalize those limits during negotiations unless necessary. At the very least, however, writing your bottom line down will cement those limits in your head and keep you from accepting a bad deal.
- 3). Gauge your relative bargaining power. It is not always worth your while to negotiate, especially if the business is part of a national chain or has a large customer base. You generally have greater bargaining power when you are willing to make bulk purchases or are willing to commit to a long-term services contract.
- 4). Treat the list price as an opening offer. Businesses set prices on the basis of supply, demand, inventory and maximum profitability. Keep any proposals you make during negotiations within the ballpark of the list price. Offers dramatically lower than the list price are likely not to be taken seriously.
- 5). Make an offer for the lowest price you possibly can. Your first counteroffer to the list price will establish a floor for negotiations. While you don't want to make your offer unreasonably low, you don't want to sell yourself short, either. In most cases, when businesses are willing to negotiate, you will end up with a price somewhere between the list price and your initial offer.
- 6). Leverage a competitor. Even large big-box retailers have price-matching programs designed to meet competitors' prices on identical products. During negotiations, keep an advertisement, coupon or previous invoice from a competitor ready to persuade the business to lower its price.
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