The art of the deal

I’m always a little amazed when reminded of some of the practical things we don’t teach in schools. A neighbor was just telling me he got a quote from a roofing company and accepted it.

I was also surprised because I had been thinking of roof replacement and had proposed to him that we negotiate a two-for deal, pooling our bargaining power. “Yeah, but this guy said his price was good for only that day, so I had to take it.” The hot box sell.

Most things are negotiable, especially in home improvement. If the vendor tries to dictate the rules, you can always walk.

For instance, a few weeks ago, I had a furnace repaired. The serviceman advised me that it was a very old unit (I knew that) and had reached the point of being dangerous. I asked him for specifics. Another company had told me the same thing a couple years ago and their explanation didn’t wash. I checked his out, and it did.

So, a salesman from the firm contacted me and came over. He led off with some small talk to get a feel for me. That’s good, because it afforded me the same opportunity. He’d been selling HVAC for over twenty years, so I knew what league we were playing in.

He wrote up three alternatives, recommending the best one, of course. I asked him to deduct the cost of the service call. It wouldn’t make sense to pay them to fix the furnace and turn around and have them sell me a new one. He grumbled, but did it. There was air in the price, as I suspected. But, how much?

He tried to close the sale, but I said I needed to do some comparison shopping. I would call him next week. He wasn’t wild about that, but relented.

I did do some comparing, but really wanted to see how hungry he was. I didn’t call all week, and neither did he. Not a good sign.

To keep my word, I called late Friday when I was pretty sure he’d be out of the office. I left a message that I had a question.

He called three times over the weekend, leaving his personal cell number. That’s more like it.

I returned the call on Monday, so I wouldn’t appear too eager, and told him I was narrowing down the choices. But, I needed his bottom line figure, not the proposal number. He knocked off 10% and attempted to close. I wasn’t certain that was the floor, so I said I’d call back in a couple days.

I did and gave him a number that would seal the deal. You’d think I had slapped him, but he’s a big boy. He came down a couple bucks, but said he couldn’t meet my price. That’s okay, I was now sure we had boiled all the fat out. A little bit of work, but taking out the service call and discounting was worth over a grand. Not a bad return.

He asked for a rather substantial deposit, I countered with a smaller one and said he’d get the rest when I was satisfied with the installation. Once they have the money, you lose your leverage.

Just a few simple things that people should know to manage their lives. We teach health (or whatever it’s called, now). Why not financial health?