A few years back, I went to a leading car dealer to sell my Skoda. After the road test and document verification, they offered me 11.2 lakh (hundred thousand) rupees. Their sales team was very well trained to influence. They gave me all the reasons why Skoda has poor resale value, there is no demand for such a vehicle, the maintenance is high etc., and how the instant cash offer will expire if I don’t sell the vehicle on the same day.
I rejected their offer and came back home peacefully.
Then, their follow-up started. On various calls, I told them that I was not interested. After multiple interactions, they revised the price to 16 lacs, the price I was expecting.
But I decided to hold on, looking at their desperation. Finally, I sold the vehicle to 18.50 lacs, i.e. 65% higher price to the same company.
You are shortchanged when you are desperate.
Here are a few things that you can apply to avoid desperation:
Plan in time: Last-minute planning usually comes with a heavy price. Whether you are booking a flight or looking for a job, the best time to plan is when you are not in crisis. Support your plan with data, market research, and proper analysis and have clarity on expectations.
Manage your environment: Many times you end up making hasty decisions only to regret them because of the unconscious influence of your partner, colleague, parents or someone else close to you. Analyze their influence on your decision-making and manage your surroundings accordingly.
Know the Prime Movers and highlight them even if the other party undermines it: Every interaction or product has certain prime movers that tilt the transaction in your favour. In this case of the car sale, it was first ownership, no accident history, clean service record, etc.
Have a Back-Up Plan: Anything that has more suiters gets a better offer. Beat your avoider and don’t depend on a single person or company for your work. I met a woman who sold her house at much lower market value because she did not want to go out and explore the market.
Don’t show your desperation, even if you are in crisis: Your display of neediness gives an unfair advantage to your adversary and humans mostly try leveraging their position of power. The most efficient conduct is being neutral.
These rules do not apply is you are genuinely in crisis and have little scope to use these techniques. If you are stuck on a snow trek and a match box holds the key to your life, paying even a million rupees is worth it.
None of these techniques work optimally unless you are in a higher mental state. Therefore, it’s important to work on your emotional intelligence and mental fitness regularly.
Change your game!
Vivek
#negotiation #mentalfitness #leadership #communicationskills #coaching #lifecoaching #communicationcoach