The Art of Negotiation

According to Dave Ramsey, everything is negotiable. In his FPU financial training series he says to pay cash for everything and always bargain. For the most part, I agree with him. However, have you tried going to Walmart and at the check out counter pull out cash and try to wheel and deal? I didn’t think so. I am sure Dave was not referring to retail big box stores. I do agree that money talks and have experienced it many times. My best friend is the king of negotiating and I have witnessed this multiple times. Here is his simple plan of negotiating and most the time it works great. 

• When shopping carry cash in small and large bills to use in the negotiating process 
• Never act like you are crazy for the item and just have to have it no matter what
• Walk by it several times and stop and look
• Once the clerk asks if you are interested in the item, say no and walk off
• Keep going by the item and looking at it
• Once the clerk asks again if you are interested in the item, now ask how much
• Always respond that’s too much and walk off
• The clerk now asks what you think the item is worth after the first price was given
• Reluctantly offer much lower and thus the negotiations have started
• Next pull out cash and make your offer. If they decline, then walk off.
• Stay firm with your offer and most the time the clerk will take a cash offer

Here is the art of negotiation. Don’t just accept the deal as is and let them know you really want the item. This process can be applied at home and in business. I use it all the time in business and have saved thousands of dollars over time. Let’s say you are working with a vendor offering you a service. You feel the cost is too high and you need a better deal. Use the same process above. You may not be using cold cash in the deal, but the rest applies. The vendor presents you a service at a cost and wants you to sign a contract. Start with acting like you don’t have to have his service. Look at the contract several times but walk away. Tell them you need to shop it more. The vendor adjusts the contract and pricing and you still look and walk away. You even get other quotes that are way less and have the same service. The vendor says this is his bottom deal. You respond with your other quote and ask him to match it or walk away. That’s cash to him and he takes the deal. Booyah! You just saved a lot of money from negotiating the deal. 

I try and use this art of negotiation from my best friend and Dave Ramsey’s advice about cash but it takes practice. Recently I was at a guitar show and stopped by a vendor with accessories. I spotted a nice guitar strap and asked the price. I was told $40. I walked away. The clerk stopped me and said she would take $35. I pulled out a $20-dollar bill and said I would give that. She took it! I was looking at a guitar online and the cost was $80. I offered $65 cash and he took it. You get it the message, right? Negotiate wherever you can at home and in business. The best part is after the deal knowing you made a huge savings.

 Your comments! Suggestions! Have you tried this?

Information Easy as PIE

One of the most frustrating challenges churches face is how to assimilate so much information in a way that the congregation will remember it and become engaged. Just getting the vast amounts of information out to the church members is challenging enough. The other side of the coin is how to present it in a way that they will remember it. One church I served on staff at, came up with over 15 ways to present information to the congregants from verbal announcements to live video streams to 4 page bulletins with inserts included. It can be frustrating to assimilate information simply because most people get overloaded daily with information wherever they go. 

People typically retain only 10% of what they read. You can only put so much information in the church bulletin and then hope people even read it at best, much less retain the information they read. Stand up announcements by staff or volunteers became popular in churches and it did help streamline the process and make it more interesting. People typically retain 20% of what they hear.

One method I have seen that works very well is using the church web site for presenting information about events and calendars. But you have to be careful how you present it there also. A static web site with text only will get you the same results as the bulletin did. So, add in some graphics and video and sound and people  along with your information and you have better retention. People typically retain 50% of what they see and hear. 

Routing your members to the church web site has great potential for greater retention. First of all, that is the first place people go for information about everything. They are already used to surfing the web for information. Second, if used right, can be more stimulating and captivating with graphics, sound, links, and clicks. Thirdly, your space is unlimited unlike the printed material used that can only fit so much information.

If you are going to send people to your web site, try using the PIE method. 

• Make sure that your web information is PRECISE. A down side of web information is the time people spend on a page. It can be very short if the information is not presently right. So, be precise and to the point and get your message across quickly. 

• Make sure your web information is INFORMATIVE. Keep your web information clean and uncluttered. Only present pertinent information for that particular event or announcement that people will need to know to participate and engage. Give details that will get them all the way from interest in the event to how to sign up and get there.

• Make sure your web information is EASY to locate. After too many clicks to find the details, people will give up and go to another page or log off. Organize your web with easy to follow menus and labels. If you are verbally announcing an event in church, then use the exact same words in your web information. Example: You announce information verbally about Wednesday Night Programs but on the web you call it "First Church" University or Academy , people may not associate those two together and find it. The bottom line is make your web information easy as PIE.

Your comments! Suggestions!