Hi there, my friend. On a Sunday evening a couple of weeks ago, Genna Contino, a reporter at MarketWatch with whom I’ve spoken many times in recent years, sent me an email that started like this …
Hope you’re having a good weekend! I just had an experience that shows how easy it is to ask for a lower price, so I had to share.
In case you weren’t aware, notes like these are among my favorite things in the world. If you have a success story to share, you can always reply to one of my weekly emails, send me a note at mattschulzwrites@gmail.com or just tell us about it in the comments.
Anyway, back to Genna’s story…
How one question turned a $899 suit into a $500 suit
Genna writes MarketWatch’s super-helpful and informative “Don’t Short Yourself” weekly newsletter. (Sign up for it here.) Like so many people in their 20s and 30s, knows she’s going to attend a lot of weddings in the next few years. It is just that time of life. It can be joyous, wonderful and fun, but it can also be incredibly expensive — especially when you have your own wedding to plan and pay for, too. Add in living in the New York City area, and it just makes it even harder.
With that in mind, she and her fiancé made a fitting appointment with a men’s formalwear store in Manhattan. “We have three [weddings] to attend over the next year,” she told me in a follow-up email, “so he was looking for a versatile suit he could rewear and style for different dress codes.”
Here’s what happened when they arrived…
The sales associate chose a suit with an $899 price tag -- over my ideal budget.
While my fiancé was trying it on, I asked if we could look at some sale options. The employee looked around for a while, came back, and said they didn't have anything on sale in the same color, but he could offer the same suit my fiancé was trying on for $500 instead.
Yep. The sales associate knocked $399 off the price of the suit, just because Genna asked to see “some sales options.” She wasn’t pushy. She didn’t threaten to walk out. She didn’t ask for a specific cost reduction. All she did was ask to see some other options.
The suit wasn’t some strange color or fit, either. “Nothing about the suit is super unique; its most unique feature is the color,” she said in an email. “We chose a charcoal gray so it could be dressed up for a winter black-tie-optional wedding and dressed down for a less formal springtime wedding.”
The biggest takeaway from her experience
This is further proof that sometimes just asking one simple question can make a huge difference.
People hate negotiation and confrontation. They hate it, in part, because they fear getting sucked into some prolonged discussion. However, the truth is that most negotiations are super-short, literally just one question and a thank you. I heard this over and over again in interviews for my book, and I continue to hear it today.
The biggest takeaway from this story is this: While success is never guaranteed, most negotiations are way shorter than you’d expect.
A few other things to keep in mind from her story:
The closer to power when negotiating, the greater the chance of success. Even the greatest negotiator on Earth won’t succeed if the person they’re negotiating with has no power to change the price. That’s why you may be more likely to successfully haggle in locally-owned, independent stores — the person you’re talking to might be the owner or someone close to them who can do whatever they want with the price.
There’s often more room to negotiate on higher-priced items. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but it's important to keep that basic idea in mind because the savings can be very real. Whether you’re talking about a home, a car, a washing machine or a $900 suit, you need never be afraid to ask if lower prices might be available.
You don’t always have to give a number first. Genna was genuinely stunned that the sales associate knocked $399 — more than 40% — off the price. “I never would’ve asked for that much of a discount myself,” she said. Turns out that she didn’t have to ask for a specific amount off. All she had to do was start the conversation with a simple question and see where it went.
As I always say with these stories, asking doesn’t always work. In fact, you may even end up coming up empty-handed more often than not. However, these requests are still so worthwhile. They’re easy. They don’t take any time at all. They help you get more comfortable with negotiation (and with rejection). And when they do come through, it can make a real difference.
In other news: The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, NBC News … and me!
I have been invited to take part in a discussion of the state of personal-finance journalism at a conference in New York next month. It’ll be part of the Personal Finance Summit put on by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW).
I’m so honored to share the stage with leaders from Bloomberg, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal to talk about a topic that is so near and dear to my heart. I’ll make sure to tell y’all about it when it is done.
Click on the image below to learn more.
Until next time!
Matt