I
was reading an article on entrepreneur.com
about negotiating deals and the first rule seemed particularly relevant to
retailing.
That
rule was "Always start the negotiation". The writer explained that to
get the upper hand in the negotiations you needed to set the agenda.
In
retail, if you let the customer ask the first question the best you can hope
for is "May I have one of those?" However the first question may also
be "What is the best price you can do that for?" and then your
negotiation becomes bogged down on a price discussion.
By
getting in first, traders are able to ensure that the focus is on a range of
product benefits, not just price. Maybe something like - “Can I give you a
little rundown on that product? If you’d prefer not, I’ll leave you to browse.”
Seemed
like good advice to me.