Haggling Your Way to Savings

Haggling is a virtue and it is also a skill that should be harnessed as soon as possible if you want to have the savings that you are looking for.

. A Common Misconception

A lot of people have this idea that large companies do not allow haggling. Companies would just lay out their prices to their potential customers without any chances for haggling. If you do not like their prices, you can just look for another company to deal with. That used to be the setting in most companies but during that time, there was little competition and those that are offering less might not live up to the expectations of the customers. But since competition has been very fierce in any industry, more and more companies are allowing haggling to their customers. Some even guarantee they have the lowest rate and price possible that any lower prices found within 24 hours will be matched. .

Because of competition, haggling is now possible and you should exercise that haggling ability of yours to get the lowest rate on any service or lowest price on any product.

. Building a Reputation

One of the easiest ways of haggling is to prove that you can pay on time. Companies would often prefer customers who can pay on time with a lower price than customers who would be ok in paying a higher rate but collection will be a lot difficult. The paper pushing and the additional manpower and resources required to collect money from their customers could cause loss to the business.

. If you have a good credit standing; businesses will have a good impression of your paying ability. Businesses would love to work with someone who has great credit standing because they would have your payment on time.

. Aside from good credit standing, loyalty is also valued by most companies. If you have been staying with the same company for years, you could always ask for a price reduction because of your loyalty. It is always a better business move to spend money on retaining customers than spending money on acquiring new customers. Businesses usually spend more in acquiring new customers so if they could just retain the right amount of customers, their need for acquiring new customers will lessen.

. One advantage of loyalty today is the shortened time span in the concept of “loyalty”. Almost every six months, a new player in the industry arrives that will pose as a challenge to the existing industry. That means you could haggle not only every year but every six months. You could point out the rates of the competitors so that you could obtain a better price.

. Timing is Everything

Timing is also essential in haggling. If you see another company that offers the same services with a lower rate, wait for a month or two before calling your company to haggle. The company that you are dealing business with knows more about the company than you do so naturally, they know the rates. After a month, get in touch with your company and start haggling. By that time, they know they have a fierce competitor and would have developed customer retaining program and that would usually come with haggling opportunities.

. Mean What You Say

There are times that companies would ignore your haggle stating that you are just faking your threats of transferring to another company. Show them that you are actually transferring by canceling your services. As soon as they realize that you are canceling your services, they will do all the necessary means to make you stay. They will reduce the rates if necessary just to retain you as their customer.