For Those About to Rock . . . (Part III)

The presentation of a productive negotiation.

Photo by Giancarlo Duarte on Unsplash

As you’ll recall from the last The Stoic Negotiator installment, my son and I prepared our negotiation strategy as we waited patiently for the return of our friendly music store sales associate.

To his credit, the guy was actually helpful. Through his store computer system, he’d located a guitar pedal that interested my son, described its features, and pointed out why he thought it was a good option. This information was useful, beyond what we’d been able to glean from the store web site.

Already, we’d gained something by entering the store. But there was more to come.

Phase III: Locking in the Deal (and then a bit more)

“We’ve got this pedal marked down off the retail to start with (okay, keep talking). We can apply a 15% holiday discount (score!). And this one is cheaper than normal because of its color.”

Hang on a second, now, buddy. What was that?

“Yeah, it says here it’s a neon yellow. I think it’s a killer color myself but, ya know, it’s not for everyone. Do you want me to get it from the stock room?”

The boy and I looked at each other, and I nodded my head towards him inquisitively.

“Sure,” my son said hesitantly. “Why not?”

The sales dude didn’t know a couple of things about this kid. First, his favorite color is yellow. Second, he is open-minded and free-spirited; he won’t be deterred by an off-beat hue. Third, he’s always looking for a good deal and values function over form. He could put up with a less-than-deal color if it meant gaining a quality pedal. Lastly, he’s color blind. Literally. He does like yellow, but the fact is that to him colors tend to blend together and not appear as vivid as they might to others.

So this neon pedal had potentially found its perfect home. But then came a final twist.

“So this is weird,” the guitar dude said, shaking his head as he rejoined us minutes later on the showroom floor. “This pedal is marked ‘neon yellow,’ but it’s actually not that. Turns out it’s this cool metallic silver color. I don’t get it.”

Sure enough, the pedal had been mislabeled in the stock room. We opened the box, unwrapped the pedal, and took a look.

“Cool!” my son said.

Not the best negotiator’s poker face. But the kid was excited.

“So I assume we can get this for the price as marked, right, even though there must’ve been some confusion in the back. Right?” I asked our rockin’ friend.

I had vowed to let my son do all the talking in this face-off, but I allowed myself to enter just a subtle nudge — the suggestive question. And it was effective.

“Yeah, I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. “Fair enough. If you want it, it’s yours. Price as marked, like we’d discussed.”

The boy tested the pedal and liked it. He loved its looks and how it sounded. We performed some quick research on our phones and verified that, yes, this was an amazing price for a highly-reviewed piece of equipment.

After a brief tête-à-tête, we could identify no downside. A great deal for a good pedal.

“I’ll take it,” my son said, as he turned to the sales guy with a wry smile.

Quick Recap and Observations

I’ve been thinking about this transaction and keep coming back to a simple idea: If you put yourself in the right position enough, sometimes a productive negotiation will present itself to you.

This deal wouldn’t have happened had we not gone into the store. Our guitar dude was helpful, guiding my son to a suitable product we wouldn’t have otherwise found. The information he gave was accurate, as we independently confirmed. We were able to demo the pedal in person, which both helped my son and the store. Much like an automobile test drive, letting customers noodle around with the pedals and guitars can be an effective way to stir emotional attachment and generate sales.

Not only could we apply the holiday and regular discount, but we (and, presumably the sales guy, through his commission) also got the benefit of an apparent stocking error. We were reminded, too, that the face-to-face nature of our interaction can create some additional pressure you wouldn’t find online, but that pressure can work on both parties. Once this guy had spent the time researching the pedal, digging through the stock room, and spending his time working with us, he was invested in making the deal work — even if it meant conceding the mismarked price and allowing us to benefit from the stocking error.

If the in-store outing hadn’t been successful, we always could’ve returned to online bargain-hunting, too. So we had nothing to lose (but our hearing, and hopefully that’s just temporary) physically visiting the music store. I’ll admit I was pleasantly surprised and readily acknowledge that the in-person experience paid dividends.

My son had been willing to walk away if he couldn’t get something that excited him. And we went in prepared, which was key.

In this case, gaining just a bit more, up-close information — and putting ourselves in a position to, well, get a little bit lucky and snag a rare find — was just the trick.