Bargaining deals do not come naturally to me. Even when visiting countries where bargaining all the time is the norm I didn’t particularly enjoy it.
Nevertheless, if I look back and see how we have reacted every time a client asked to negotiate any aspect of a contract for any of my professional services I can tell you that none of them left empty-handed. Maybe they didn´t always get a discount on price but for sure they got something (maybe more quota, an extra feature for free, free advice,…).
Therefore, now I’m starting to do the same when I’m the customer and I’m observing the same results, this time on me. If you ask for something reasonable, people will have a hard time in saying no. First, because we don’t like to say NO without a good excuse or some alternative option, just “no” looks too direct, even aggressive, and secondly because if we don’t play the negotiation game we may risk losing that potential customer.
In today’s economy, every little thing helps so, like it or not, bargain, always, everything. It works.
