How to Win Every Transaction

Have you ever been in a situation in which someone quoted you a price for a job and you thought the price was too high? I’m going to assume the answer is yes. Some of you may have even experienced this with me. It doesn’t matter the industry, though. All that matters is you needed something done, asked a professional what it would cost, and the professional gave you a number well above what you were expecting.

Don’t worry, because I have a foolproof solution for how to deal with situations like these and how to come out the winner in every transaction.

The Wrong Way

The natural tendency may be to hem (and possibly haw) over what you perceive to be a steep price.

You: “I need my water heater flushed.”

HVAC professional: “That’ll be forty thousand dollars.”

You: “Hmm. Well, I don’t know. I was kind of hoping for something under a hundred, so this is a bit higher than I was expecting. You know, money’s tight right now with the economy and everything. Plus I have seven kids and three dogs and a parakeet. But I do need that hot water. Although now that I think about it, I have a sister-in-law who once dated a guy whose second wife’s brother’s old baseball teammate—they played college ball together, not division one or anything but still, it’s good baseball—has a cousin whose friend’s nephew is looking to get into heating and cooling. Let me check into that get back to you.”

The HVAC professional goes away and you eventually convince yourself $40,000 is a fair price.

The result: you get the job done and have hot water, but you had to pay $39,900 more than you should’ve. Your only possible solace is the HVAC professional might feel a twinge of guilt due to your hemming and hawing. Small victory, but overall, a net loss for you.

The Right Way

Make the person think you’re winning on the deal. Not just slightly—you’re completely taking this dolt for all he’s worth with the deal of the lifetime you just scored.

You: “I need my oil changed.”

Oil-change professional: “That’ll be six million dollars.”

You: “Done.”

As you say, “Done,” do so with zeal and excitement with a hint of “I got you, you idiot” in your eyes. Yes, it will cost you $6,000,000, but the oil-change guy will take your immediate acceptance to mean he could’ve gotten more. He’ll beat himself up internally over his failure to maximize his profits and forever remember the time he knows he could’ve and should’ve asked for more. He’ll have no idea how much you were willing to pay. All he’ll know is $6,000,000 was well under that amount.

Better yet, he’ll try to ask for more of the next sucker who goes in there. And that sucker, not having read this rant, will refuse the $7,000,000 quote and spread rumors about the rip-off artist at the oil-change shop. This will cost the oil man his business and livelihood. You lose a few million dollars, but it’s a net victory. Society owes his man’s destitution to you.

Well done, you.