Recently, I accompanied my wife on a shopping excursion to acquire some “post Xmas super savings”. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do that day, but figured it might provide an opportunity for some creative negotiation somewhere along the way.

In one store, we went up to a table with a large sign announcing “Selected Items 60% Off”. As the table contained some candles that my wife was specifically looking for, she thought that she would be saving a significant amount of money by buying ahead for next year. My spin was, “this is how you go broke saving money”, but just to keep the peace, I kept that thought to myself.

When the clerk began to ring up the candles, the discount was only 25%. With a smile on my face, I asked the clerk to accompany me back to the table. I then asked that she read me the sign as I must have misread it or had a “senior moment” as I thought the items on the table were “60% off”. She pointed out that only “Selected Items” were 60% off.

Again, with a smile, I said, “That’s what I read too”, and I “selected” these items, so don’t you think I should get 60% off? Actually, I was joust having some fun, as I was getting bored. When she stopped laughing, we returned to the register at which point she took another 25% off the candles.

Not a bad return for a bit of humor. More importantly, however,once again it supports my negotiating tip, “You only get what you ask for or If you don’t ask, you don’t get”.

Share on Facebook