BUYERS MUST BE BARGAINERS!                DO 1849           1984

         1. I'VE ALWAYS TOLD YOU THAT IT'S FAR WISER TO DO YOUR WHEELING & DEALING & NEGOTIATING & BARGAINING ON THE TELEPHONE before you go there & get hooked right in their place or in their office where they know they've got you! They know you wouldn't have come so far if you weren't pretty serious or pretty interested, so the level of your bargaining ability is considerably lower when you're already there. It's much better to do your bargaining on the phone. Get all your prices & your deals & your discounts & all the rest on the telephone before you ever go, because they're going to do their best to bait you on the phone in order to get you down there. So they're going to offer their best buys & bargains & discounts & deals & prices on the telephone first, because they know once they've got you there they've almost got you & it's going to take quite a bit to make you back out.
         2. ALL YOU GO TO THE SHOP OR OFFICE FOR IS TO GET A DEMONSTRATION TO MAKE THEM PROVE THEIR CLAIMS, & then if you're convinced, you can close the deal. All the other matters have already been settled on the phone. So that's how important phone calls are, 'cause that's where you've got the advantage to do your best wheeling & dealing & ask for your best prices, discounts, guarantees & all. They know they're bidding against the competition!
         3. TO MAKE DEALS YOU HAVE TO BE A SALESMAN, TO SELL YOUR POINT OF VIEW & TO MAKE YOUR BARGAIN! After all, they're trying to sell you, but it's your job to sell them! They're trying to hard-sell it & it's your job to try to be hard-TO-sell & you've got to have good sales resistance!
         4. THEY'RE NOT GOING TO PARTICULARLY LOVE YOU FOR HARD BARGAINING, BUT THEY'LL RESPECT YOU MORE & they'll know next time they've got somebody to deal with & not just a sucker who's going to pay the first price they ask! Next time they're probably even going to raise it higher if they figure that you're going to always pay the first price they ask.
         5. BUT IF YOU'RE A REAL HARD BARGAINER & A DEALER, THEY'RE GOING TO LEARN TO TRY TO GIVE YOU A LOW PRICE TO BEGIN WITH, knowing that they might as well forget it, that you won't even consider the high price. They might not give it their lowest price, but they're going to be more reasonable as long as they're going to have a tough fight on their hands.
         6. NEVER PAY THE FIRST ASKING PRICE NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE OR WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH! Bargain, make deals, make offers, try to wheedle them down & get some kind of good deal or agreement, if not on the price, the service, the guarantee, the discount or whatever. But that all should be done on the telephone if possible, because once they've got you there, then they know they've just about got you & you're not going to back out unless it's really offensive.
         7. TO BARGAIN ON DELIVERY IS NOT THE TIME TO BARGAIN. If you try to bargain THEN, you're going back on your word, because if you didn't like the price, you wouldn't have had them deliver.--Or whether you liked the price or not, if you weren't agreeable to the price or you hadn't consented to the price you wouldn't have had them deliver!
         8. SO IT'S NO TIME TO BARGAIN IN PERSON UNLESS IT'S THE KIND OF SHOPPING THAT YOU CAN'T DO BY PHONE BUT YOU HAVE TO DO IT & IT'S JUST LITTLE STUFF ON THE SPOT. But when it comes to big items like equipment & machinery, etc., get'm to do their bidding on the telephone. What you're actually doing is shopping around asking for bids, & they know it.--And they don't know what the other guy had to offer or what price he gave. It's secret bidding & you're getting them to bid not knowing what the other guy's price was, & knowing that whatever price they give you it'd better be pretty reasonable or they may be outbid by the other guy even on their first price.
         9. YOU CAN TELL A LOT ABOUT THE KIND OF SERVICE THEY'RE GOING TO GIVE BY THE FIRST SERVICE THEY GIVE YOU, & THAT'S DICKERING ON THE PHONE!--How much they're willing to talk & respond & answer questions & be helpful & give you all the information you ask for & not get impatient & not try to cut you short & say, "Nah, we don't want to fool with you because you ask too many questions!" Or, "You can't speak our language as well as we do." If that's the case, you don't want to fool with them either! Because any outfit that's snotty or afraid to be asked questions, there may be something phoney. So you'd better deal on the phone & learn how to read character & personality & spirit. The Lord can show you even on the telephone whether it's a good company to deal with or not.
         10. IF IT'S EQUIPMENT YOU'RE GETTING, LET THEIR DEMONSTRATOR START TRAINING YOUR OPERATOR! Once you're serious & you've decided to buy it, make a deal too, "Well, can we stay there an hour or two while you train us how to use it?" It's better to do that there rather than have'm start coming into the house to train you. Right? Let that be one of the last things before you close the deal, say, "Well, are you willing to show my operator there & train her how to use the thing before we go, before we pay the money, before we take delivery?" If that's the last request about it then they could hardly refuse.
         11. BUT WHATEVER YOU DO, DO YOUR BARGAINING ON THE PHONE FIRST!--Settle the price, discount, service, guarantee etc. before you go! When you're THERE it's too late! God help you all to be good bargainers for the Lord!--In Jesus' name, amen!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family