Posted by Adam on November 03rd 2009
The Pause
I am not a very good negotiator. Although, you don’t have to take my word for it, just ask the lady who runs the laundry service about a block from my apartment. Where I come from in America you don’t need to be negotiator. Everything is a set price. Its not like you can walk into a McDonalds and try to get a nickel or two knocked off your McLatte. I digress.
As I was saying, I am not a good negotiator, but I do know one thing, a properly timed pause in the negotiation is absolutely crucial. Take for example when I took a couple of dress shirts in to be dry cleaned today. The woman behind the counter first told me that it would be 150 pesos (or about 3 bucks) each . I knew this wasn’t a great deal, but at this point in the day I was okay with it. But…instead of agreeing right away (like an idiot) (like I normally do), I decided to use “The Pause”, one of my very few negotiating tactics. Without saying anything I slowly looked down at the counter, then up at the ceiling and then back at her, giving her the impression that I was really thinking about something.
“Ok, 100 pesos each” she said.
I am pretty sure I still got screwed over, but thanks to the Pause this amateur negotiator got screwed over just a little bit less.
Hi. I am a long time reader. I wanted to say that I like your blog and the layout.
Peter Quinn
haha – - nice! expertly executed.