I recently helped my boyfriend buy a new car. It taught me a lesson so obvious, it almost hurts.
Don’t offend your customer!
After getting no where with his “hard ball poker face” sales approach, the salesman resorted to a tactic one must never try. He did the whole condescending: “Well, I guess not everyone can afford a Volkswagen. If buying a cheaper car is your thing and it’s what you have to do, then you just have to know it and make that decision.” I mean, COME ON. Really? Is it necessary to offend your customers into accepting a deal for fear that they might look poor? Little did he know he was dealing with an ex-poor (myself) and a very prideful man (boyfriend).Needless to say, tactic backfired and boyfriend ended buying from another VW dealer.
While I loved playing hard ball in my Negotiations class at Harvard, I know that in real life, sometimes honey will get you farther than vinegar. Especially when you’ve got more to lose than the person you’re negotiating or compromising with. (And no where is this more obvious to me than in the corporate workplace!)
All I’m saying is: there’s a time to apply the bullying/aggressive tactics. And then there’s trying to sell a quasi-luxury vehicle in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Play nice.