Have you ever asked for a lower price?
A gentlemen I spoke with recently told me a story where he tried this for the first time. He was in a store with his daughters when a sweater caught their eyes. But after looking at the price tag, no matter how his daughters begged and pleaded, no matter the pouts and puppy dog eyes, there was no way he was spending that much on those sweaters. As he headed for the checkout, without the sweaters, he ran into the store manager. After the quick pleasantries, he simply asked, “Are those sweaters going on sale anytime soon? My daughters would love them, but I am not prepared to pay full price for them.”
Have you ever asked for a discount? In some cultures the process of bargaining and haggling over prices is part of every economic transaction. But in other cultures, like North American culture, that simply is not the norm. While this is not a commentary on the diverse cultures of the world, asking for preferential pricing is a strategy that could save you some serious dollars.
Even in cultures where asking for discounts isn’t common on everyday purchases, we’re still prepared to do it for certain items. We couldn’t even imagine buying a car without first talking the price down at the dealership. Or buying a home without making a few offers and counter-offers. But if we start applying that same mentality to our everyday purchasing, we might just be able to make our hard earned dollars stretch just a little bit further.
And for the really advanced readers, if you take those savings that you asked for and invest them, you’ll be on a greatly accelerated path to financial freedom.
So what happened to our friend buying sweaters for his daughters? Well, his daughters have a couple of brand new sweaters with matching smiles to go with them! The savings were almost 50% of the price tag, which of course feels pretty good. And the store manager made a couple of sales that he otherwise wouldn’t have. I’d say the whole situation turned into a win-win.
Stepping out of our comfort zone and asking for a discount is an important, and often overlooked strategy. Rather than waiting for things to go on sale, we can simply ask for preferred pricing. This helps us save money, which we can put to better use as we continue our pursuit of financial freedom.