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Auctionwally's tips for hardball negotiations -meet me at my end
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Win/win is more possible if you go in armed with a few skills
These days a lot of folks are selling off valuable items to help make ends meet. If you find yourself in this situation, don't you think it's best to be as prepared as possible when you need to sell fast?
There's common hardball tactic I call, the "meet me at my end" technique. It's very likely come up in any serious negotiation. Ask yourself if you want to be on the giving or receiving end of it.
This is a great multi-purpose tactic, but it takes a bit of thinking and skill. It's the opposite of the very common "let's meet in the middle" philosophy. To understand it completely, first let's look at how the "meet in the middle" tactic works.
Let's say the prospect offers you $1,000 for your item and you were looking for $1,500. He likely to counter your offer with $1,250 offering to "meet you in the middle", implying that he is trying to be very reasonable. At this point most sellers if they continue to haggle at all, will go to the halfway mark between $1,250 and $1,500, at around $1,350.
Try this instead. Counter his offer with $1,475 and when you do, keep a poker face and notice his expression. This tactic is useful for more than just getting the price upped. It will tell you a lot about your buyer's negotiating strategy. You've already got $1,250 on the table as an offer, by halving the increments downward you'll get closer to a lower amount much quicker, bad for you. But by using the "meet me at my end" close, you will stay closer to the higher price while still giving the appearance of being willing to make the deal work. You should know that the average dealer will offer about 60-70% of what they are willing to pay. They do this because they expect people to haggle and if there's no serious haggling back and forth, then it's a discount of 30-40% off of what they would have paid. Do you want to just give away that money?
Situations in which you have to sell something for quick cash can be nerve wracking. If at all possible, it's best to practice this technique. If you can't find a partner to role-play, then at least run it by in your head a few times. Not to put down my fellow dealers in the business, but most of them are very good at what they do and can act like sharks at times. It's a survival instinct they learned comming up in the business. If your not prepared with some well thought out tactics of your own, it's likely that you'll take quite a bit less than could have gotten for your item.
The preceeding article is an excerpt from my eBook, "Selling Your Valuables in Tough Times".
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