I recently engaged in a negotiation with a car salesman. I wanted to buy a new sedan car at a price of $6000. However, the car salesman offered the car I wanted at a price of $7500. He insisted that I would have to settle for a different car with a lower performance for the same price I offered. However, I stated clearly that I was not settling for anything less in performance. As such, the dealer requested that I raise my offer which I declined. After analyzing the market prices, the dealer agreed to come down from his initial value, and I also agreed to raise my offer by $200. Despite the car salesman being an aggressive negotiator, I was able to maintain the upper hand and dominate the negotiations. As such, the negotiation was successful because I got to have the salesman reduce his original price of the sedan to what I thought it was worth. I bought the sedan at the price of $6200.
My objectives were to buy a car with an engine capacity not exceeding 1800cc and that has not had a mileage of over 50,000 miles. The car condition was also to be new with all the accompaniments provided from the factory present. The car also had to be in the price range of $5000 and $8000. The brand of the car had to be either Toyota or Subaru. I achieved my objectives and got a new Toyota NZE with an engine capacity of 1500cc and 36,000 miles. The car was new, in good condition, and had all the accompaniments such as the wheel spanner, a spare wheel, and a car jack.
The strategies and techniques I employed in the negotiations included understanding the negotiation process to prevent falling prey to the salesman manipulating my emotions on how I react during the negotiations. I knew that if I anticipated a move from the salesman, it would have no impact on my negotiating skills (Wilson, 2012). I knew that if I believed that I would have a deal, I would get attached to it emotionally and would employ all the tactics to retain the deal. I also employed the strategy of constantly negotiating. As such, I would not lose my negotiating ground to the salesman. On the other hand, I watched out for the inflated emotions of the salesman to avoid the negotiations getting out of hand by having the salesman become upset.
I also employed the strategy of not falling in love with the product. Otherwise, I would get hooked by the salesman once they realize that I am emotionally attached (Wilson, 2012). Otherwise, I would not be in a position to negotiate effectively. Finally, I ensured that I did not fall for the empathy trap. Otherwise, the salesman could have made me feel guilty for negotiating.
If the same event were repeated, I would focus more on handling the emotional balance between the salesman and myself rather than sticking more on the details of the business deal. As such, I will be in a position to pull the heart strings of the salesman making the deal fall into my hands.
The concessions that we had with the salesman included having the salesman reduce his offer by $1300 and me raising my initial offer by $200. As such, I bought the car at $6200. I bought the car I desired despite the salesman’s trial to have me buy a cheaper car that had lower performance than what I desired to purchase. Moreover, I got the car with all the accompaniment tools making the deal complete.
Reference
Wilson, D. (2012, September 12). Negotiate Like a Car Salesman: 5 Tactics to Help You Win Every Time. Fast Company. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/3001209/negotiate-car-salesman-5-tactics-help-you-win-every-time
