Hi Ranty Nation!  Ranty McRantyson har agin!

Ah started this har Back to Basics (B2B) talk back in Part A.  An this Part B’ll finish it off.  Ah hope y’all be enjoyin these B2B talks!

Strategies in Negotiating

In addition to power, they’s also be some “strategies” in hagglin.  Since this’n be gittin a bit long, ah’ll just talk real quick-like bout four of them: Bracketing, Anchoring, Silence, an Biddin Against Yurself.

Bracketing

The furst fur instance ah gave in Part A, was a textbook fur instance of “Bracketing”.  Y’see, the seller said she dun wanted $20.  Y’all said y’all’d give $10.  That thar is called a “bracket”.  Given that information, assumin sumthin didn’t go wrong-like (see the “Power” discussion above), y’all’d expect the actual sale price to be sumwhere between $10 and $20.  In fact, the “bracketin” was “perfect” cuz y’all settled right in the middle.

However, let’s say that the seller said they’d take $19 rather than $17.50 to start.  And y’all came back wit $12.50.  Then they countered wit $18.  Well, y’all can see they dun be comin down slower than y’all’re goin up, wit probly means they want more money than to jus split the differnce of the starting bracket ($15).  In fact, after sum more hagglin, y’all settle on $17.50.  That can happen… goin either way, up or down frum a straight split.

Anchorin

Anchorin’s a kinda bracket.  By setting the startin price high, the seller cud be settin in y’all’s mind that the sales price will be higher.  That’s cuz most folk’ll generally wheel an deal in a purty fair manner.  So even if’n they thunk the price be high, they won’t offer a price that’s too low cuz they don’t want to insult the seller, specially if’n they really want it.

Anchorin on Price

So lookin back at our fur instance, if the seller thought the lamp was wurth $20, but wanted to git $30, she’d probly price it at $40, even though $20 was a fair price.  Course she cud be pricin it too high an then not have anyone even make an offer.

On y’all’s side of the haggle if’n y’all thunk the lamp was wurth $20 (like the seller), y’all’d feel pressure to offer more’n $10 cuz y’all’d be afraid of insultin the seller.  So y’all might offer $15 to start.  An the negotiatin wud be on, an be most likely to settle at over $20 cuz the seller’d hafta come down a lot more’n y’all wud to git to $20.  My bet’d be that the sale price’d be $25-$30 (half way is $40 + $15 = $55 / 2 = $27.50).

Anchorin on Sumthin Other’n Price

Now not all anchorin is done on price.  If’n y’all’ve bought a car, y’all might’ve seen places that say their prices are “no haggle pricin”!  An they dun be tryin to make y’all thunk that they’s prices already be so low they can’t be lower.  Well, most times that jus ain’t so.  If’n y’all gather sum infurmation an find out the car y’all want is available sumwhere else (within drivin distance) fur a lower price, y’all might jus find that them folk’ll be willin to come down on they’s price (at least if’n y’all can prove whut y’all be sayin). Even if’n they don’t come down in price, they’all might “throw in” sum other stuff… which is basically the same as comin down on the price since y’all’ll be gittin more fur yur money.

The point is that the “no haggle pricin” dun be the “anchor” that makes y’all thunk the price is the price an nuttin can be dun to change it.  Sumtimes y’all ain’t gonna be able to change it, an if’n y’all can’t, then walk away an don’t wurry bout it.  Find sumthin else, but don’t change yur mind cuz all the reasons y’all had befur, fur y’all to be needin it at that top price, ain’t changed.  That’s why stickin to whut y’all decided calmly, befurhand, is best!

Silence

Ah know this’n sounds kinda strange (yah, that thar’s a joke), but jus bein silent is a negotiatin trick.  Y’see, folk don’t like it when sumone don’t talk fur a while.  That feelin’s whar the sayin, “an uncomfortable silence” dun come frum.  So whut happens is whoever is willin to be quiet the longest ends up “winnin” a small “point” in the negotiatin.  Of course, it can help to throw a bit of “body language” in there too.

Let’s look at the last fur instance an wurk in sum silence in it.

Y’all go up to the seller an say sumthin like, “Really, $40?”  Y’all might say sumthin like, “I was thinkin closer to $10” an now y’all have set yur anchor.

An now’s the time to not say nuttin.  The seller might respond wit sumthin like, “Yeah, ah saw a lamp like this’n sell fur $40 a couple weeks ago.”  At this point, y’all might want to slightly raise an eyebrow or give a slightly surprised look, but don’t say nuttin.  Then the seller might say sumthin like, “Yeah, it was pretty busy that weekend an thangs were sellin well.”  You might want to look around (hopefully, it’ll be fairly slow at this point) an then look closely at the lamp.  The seller might take that hint an say, “Well, ah might be able to go as low as $30…”

Now y’all have got the bracket y’all want ($10 low end and $30 high end), an y’all’ll probly settle in sumwhar round $20, but below $25, savin y’all at least 5 dollars.  An all y’all had to do was be quiet to git them to come down to a more reasonable price.

Bidding Aginst Yurself

The final thang to watch out fur, or git the other folk to do, is that y’all don’t want to be biddin aginst yurself!  Now this har ain’t as silly as it might sound.  Course, y’all ain’t gonna be doin sumthin like, “Hmm, ah thunk ah’ll take it fur $10.”  Then look the other way an say, “Oh, yeah, well ah’ll go to $15!” an so on.

Let’s look at that last fur instance an see whut ah mean.

Y’all walk up to the seller who’s tryin to git $40 fur that lamp.  An y’all come right out and say, “Ah’ll offer you $10 fur that thar lamp!”  The seller looks at you in disbelief an then starts to turn away.  But y’all REALLY want that lamp an say, “Ok, well, maybe ah’ll do $15.”  At this, the seller looks back with a raised eyebrow an starts to turn away agin.  So, y’all say, “Wait!  Ah might be able to go $20.”  Now the seller turns around and says, “Well, ah might be able to go down to $35…”  An now y’all have a bracket an will probly settle at $25-30.

The point is that, y’all were biddin aginst yurself.  The thang to do after the seller turned away might have bin to ask, “Well, whut do you thunk wud be a gud price, cuz that $40 is too high.”  An then wait fur them to give y’all a counter offer.  Y’all really don’t want to bid aginst yurself cuz y’all’re givin up money witout gittin anythin back fur it!

Pres Trump’s “The Art of the Deal”

Now thar be sum really bad books on negotiatin.  Mostly by folk who dun “struck it rich” an thunk they dun be gud negotiators when really they jus be at the right place at the right time wit all the “power” (see above) behind them.  An usually they have folk wurkin fur them that really dun all the negotiatin!

IMO, ah’d say that Pres Trump’s “The Art of the Deal” is probly one of the wurst books of this kind.  He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth an figured that dun made him pretty smart.

— Wikipedia: The Art of the Deal

Ah mean, if’n he were such a gud deal maker, then why’d he dun bankrupt three casinos… an more than once?

The Bottom Line

An, as y’all have probly guessed y’all can use these ideas together to git yurself a better price.  BUT all of these har tricks/gimmicks/strategies sumtimes don’t wurk as well as y’all’d like.  Sumtimes they don’t wurk at all!  They ain’t no guarantees.

But if’n y’all test them an wurk wit em, they can definitely help y’all git more of the price y’all want rather than payin more of the price the seller wants.  At least over the long run.  An bein aware of them means y’all’ll be less likely to fall fur them tricks!

For what it’s wurth (FWIW), y’all can see sum of these har strategies bein used on the show, “American Pickers” on The History Channel.

A Final Wurd

One final wurd of advice.  MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHUT YUR MAXIMUM PRICE IS BEFUR Y’ALL START NEGOTIATIN AND STICK TO IT!  The why fur, is that too durn many folk git caught up in havin to “win” (buy the item) an sumtimes pay more’n they dun want to.  Kinda like them folk that go gamblin, swearin up an down they’s gonna stop if’n they lose $100, but come home havin lost double that cuz, they “jus knew” they’s luck was gonna change!

Also, if’n y’all stick to yur top price, sumtimes jus bein willin to seriously jus walk away will git the other side to say, “Ok, ah’ll take yur offer!”  Sumtimes they’ll wait til you git home an call an say they talked to they’s bosses an got them to ok the deal (sumtimes that thar happens in car sales).

An remember that ALWAYS, walkin away frum a bad deal is a “win”.

In the next B2B talk, ah’ll finally git back to talkin bout how “We, the People” can use whut we dun learned bout money an negotiatin to start gittin our fair share.  Til then…

Ranty McRantyson signin off!

PS.  Ah strongly suggest y’all check out this book:  Secrets of Power Negotiating by Roger Dawson.  This was one of the “textbooks” fur that negotiatin class ah mentioned ah took at the beginnin of this har talk.  IMO, it dun be the best of the negotiatin books ah read an it has dun wurked fur me quite a few times.  Ah shud also note that ah don’t git nuttin fur recommendin this book.  Ah jus believe it to be a gud’n!