subject: Lessons On Tough Negotiations From Pawn Stars [print this page] The popular American television show, Pawn Stars has a lot to teach us all about successful business negotiations.
Aside from being a fun and endearing show that tricks viewers into learning their history, Pawn Stars also offers many great lessons in salesmanship, negotiation and getting what you want. Read on if youre a freelance designer who could stand to win more business and get more out of the clients you have.
There are few things more aggravating for a service provider than to go to a lot of trouble with meetings, presentations and proposals, only to find out the prospects budget is only a fraction of what the project will require.
For Rick and co, their buy cycle is much shorter than our sales cycle. They understand the need to cut to the chase as quickly as possible and either make a deal or move on. By having the seller name their price first, they know where they stand.
Theres another great reason to get the seller to tell you what they want first. You dont want to throw out a number that is higher than theyre expecting. Rick looks at the condition and thinks to himself, I think I can get $700 for this. But instead of saying, Ill give you $400, he asks the man what he wants.
If they have more to spend than it will take you to complete the project, look for ways to upsell and provide even greater services for the money. But for goodness sake, put as much of that budget to good use as you can.
It also means when the project demands more time than you expected, you begin to lose out and make less of a profit than you expected.
When someone brings in a piece, no matter how badly Rick wants it, he never begins negotiation with his top price. For pieces he cant estimate himself, he brings in an expert who explains to Rick and the seller what the item is worth. Lets us a Civil War rifle in fair condition as an example. The shop has get at least $500 worth of restoration work done before they can try to sell the rifle for $3,500.
Taking what weve established in lesson number one, Rick asks the seller what she wants. He asks her what she really wants, or he throws back a number like $1,200. He knows that, if he needs to, he spend $2,000 and still make the profit he wants, even with the restoration work needed. Hell either let her arrive at it naturally or give in sooner.
Youll know how important it is for you based on the number of prospects who come back and negotiate you down. If youre working with startups and small business in particular, they often want to haggle on price. If you give them a cost thats barebones to begin with, youll have nowhere to go.
