Big Purchases - Part 2

You have to keep this in your head at all times. EVERYTHING really is negotiable.

Rule #1: You have to tell the truth. I have no idea why I have to remind people of this, but sadly, I do. You must tell the truth, and you cannot misrepresent yourself in any way.

You MUST have extreme integrity. Not just regular integrity - EXTREME integrity. You cannot misrepresent yourself or the items you’re buying or selling in any way. Ripping off a button to get a discount on a shirt is LYING and STEALING. It’s not living with integrity. You have to have extreme levels of integrity.

Rule #2: You must be paying in cash. Why? Because cash has power.


The Power of Cash

Cash has an emotional value. When you see a big wad of cash you get happy, right? Well, that’s one thing the sales people cannot control. They like to see cash. You pull out cash and you’ve got a flock of salespeople hovering around like seagulls.

With cash, you have a definite limit AND leverage. If you have $700, then you cannot spend any more than $700. That is huge blessing to you. You will not be overpaying or overstretching yourself to purchase the item, and you will have some definite leverage in the purchase process.

Cash has immediacy. When you hand over cash for something, it means the deal is closed. You have your item, they have their money…both people win. There's no waiting for credit approval or checking with their banker. It's done.

You cannot haggle when financing an item. Seriously, you cannot say “yeah, we’re going to finance it 90 days same as cash, and by the way, we’d like a really good deal on it.” They’ll smile at you and walk into the back and laugh. You just can’t get a good deal when you’re financing something. And don’t just say you’re going to pay cash, count it out with a little bit of drama. It messes with people. You’ve got people at the cash register that aren’t sure what to do with it. Honestly, they freak out a little when they have a big wad of cash, because people buy things with cards and don’t get those good deals. The sales associates will follow you around like a slobbering puppy when they see you have a wad of cash. It’s great…have some fun with it. Be proud that you’re paying with cash and snicker if they mention financing (and whip out a wad and say, “no thanks, we’ll be paying in cash.” Or “we don’t do financing.” It messes with them!

I know, you are all thinking, "But what if I get mugged?"

Well honey, you've been getting mugged at the mall for years, why start worrying about it now? Seriously, walking around with it for a couple hours one day isn’t going to kill ya. Don’t walk around with a wad of cash on you at all times, but to the electronics store isn’t going to give you much of a complex.
I mentioned this a bit earlier, but I want to re-emphasize that you need to have some flair when paying with cash. It’s got to be an event. It’s gotta have drama, intrigue, and by all means….have some fun with it.

If you’re buying a $1000 item, have 10 $100 bills and count them out SLOWLY

If you’re buying a $100 item, have 20 $5.00 bills to count out. Either way, the reaction will still be the same…sales associates who get happy when they see cash.

Have some fun with it. I personally like to count it out at least 3 times per large purchase. I do it once on the floor when about to haggle, once after haggling, and once or twice at the register. It’s just SO much fun to mess with them.

And true story…the first time I did this, the gal at the register had to call 2 people over there to count the cash because she kept messing it up. Seriously…..they don’t know what to do with cash!

Know Where To Shop

My favorite place is HH Gregg in Rivergate. I've always gotten great deals there. Other stores where the employees are paid on commission are great places to try. I typically avoid the mom & pop stores because their overhead is so small anyway that I feel that by making them go into my price range, I'd be creating a win/lose situation for them. Big stores like Sears just don't care and won't bother haggling.


Marriage

You CANNOT act Married to an item. You have to at least act indifferent towards it. The sales people are trained to know when you are so “in love” with that new appliance. They see how you gaze at it lovingly, as you imagine all of your laundry going into the super capacity front loading washer – in your favorite color, red. They see how you look at it, and they know at that moment, that they have you. You are already sold to it, and your chances of haggling have just flown out the window.

By all means, admire the heck out of the item, but do it online or at another store. Get it all out of your system before you walk in that store. Walk around a little, checking out other ones, and then begin negotiations.

You CANNOT be married to buying it at that store. Just because you’ve always shopped there isn’t a good reason to keep shopping there.

You must be willing to walk out! Yes, I said it. You must be willing to leave the store and go to another one to try to get the deal. 9 times out of 10, if you offer a half-way sane offer, you will be stopped by that associate before you even reach the parking lot. They know that if you leave their store, or their lot, then they just lost that sale and it went to someone else. They do not want you to leave their store without having first handed over your money. You have value to them – act like it.


Practice

Like our mommas always said, Practice makes perfect, and this is no different.

Practice Asking for a good deal. We have to get rid of the fear.

Practice your body language. My hubby and I honestly practice with each other before we go. We practice our looks of indifference, our thinking and pondering looks.

Practice Your Script. We have a script. We honestly do. We do the good cop bad cop thing…but it’s more like normal husband, shrew of a wife thing. It works because he’s laid back and isn’t into haggling, and I am in it for the kill. :o) So, find a script that works for you and practice it. We have automatic responses to things or key words that we only know the meaning to. It keeps us on our A game because we prepare for all the possibilities.

Practice Shutting Up. You need to learn how to shut-up. Silence creates drama. Ask a question and then shut-up. Someone wants to jump in, and if it’s not you – then they will come down on price before you even enter in on the discussion. You’ll be amazed at what standing there being quiet with cash will do for you. This is an art. Dave related a story where he just felt like messing with someone that day, so he went to a used car lot. The guy came out, Dave was looking at a car, asked a simple question and just shut up. The guy answered the question and when Dave just kinda grunted, he kept talking. He dropped the price twice as Dave went around – silent as can be, just looking intensely at the car. He just so happened to stop at the bumper and just not say anything. The salesman said, “Well, you’re obviously an intelligent guy and you can tell this car has been hit.” Dave had NO idea that it had been hit. None whatsoever, but his silence made that guy not only lower the price but disclose information on the vehicle. Silence is powerful stuff.

Practice Saying "That's Not Good Enough!" You have to let them know that “that’s not good enough.” Quit playing price. If they give you a price you say, “that’s not good enough.” And then shut-up. If they ask “what is” then say “I don’t know, but I know that’s not it.” And then shut-up. Sometimes their first drop in price is lower than what you’d have started with.

Practice using contingency closings. If you’re having trouble ironing out the price, then you can do the “if I” contingency close. If they want you to meet their price, ask them to throw something else in with the deal – free installation, free delivery, a free blue ray player with that big screen TV, free surround sound. If I meet your price, then I’m going to need free surround sound to go with my new TV. “Well, I can’t do that” Well you’re going to have to give me something else...act as if it already came with it.

Whatever their first (and sometimes second) offers are is not good enough. They don’t have to do business with you – someone will. That’s alright.

Now here are some of my personal tips and tricks from having done this a couple times before. Do your research online. Pack your pockets with money (know how much is in each), Act indifferent, and Drop a Competitor's Name.

Let’s see how this played out during our most recent big purchase.

We knew we wanted to get a 42 inch HDTV but we weren’t 100% sure which brand we wanted to go with. We saw that the prices were in the 900-1100 range for them, so we figured that we’d plan on spending $650-750 for one. We set our limit at $750 and started packing our pockets. We had $600 in my hubby’s wallet, $25 in each pocket, and $50 in various places in my wallet. We looked around, saw what we wanted to buy and the hovering sales associate said, “It’s on sale today for $999 (which we knew was the standard price).” I smiled at him and said, “that’s not good enough.” He went away, came back with a new offer of $880. I said, “Yeah, that’s still not good enough. I’m thinking much less than that. What can you do for us?” He said he’d talk to the manager and he himmed and hawed, and went to the computer, back to the manager. Meanwhile, we decided that we were going to be firm in our offer of $715 since we knew we needed some money for a digital antenna. He came back and said $775. I then took out the cash (that we put together in a nice little stack while he was running around doing his thing) and counted it out – NICE AND SLOWLY. I looked at him and said, “Well, here’s $715 cash – will you do the deal for that? He hesitated and I said….if not, it’s okay…we’ll go across the street and try Electronics Express.” He went back one more time and came out willing to do the deal for $715 after tax. So, we got a $999 tv for $655 (before tax) – that’s a savings of $344. I’d say that qualifies as a big, BIG bargain.


And we did the same thing with a new washer the year before. You just cannot get those kinds of deals when using credit.