Category: Customers and customer service

  • Don’t let ‘em get you down! Getting past the barriers to customer service negotiations

    In many of our negotiations with companies—the fee-charging bank, formidable cable company, irascible airline—our toughest challenge is not the negotiation itself. It’s getting to a negotiation in the first place. The fact is, many companies just don’t want to negotiate with you—the formidable you—because they know they just might lose if they do. So many…

  • Giving away freebies: An “irrational” business strategy

    Business 101: When a customer asks you to do some service or provide some good, find a way to charge them. Right? Wrong. Well, not entirely wrong, but let me tell you about an important set of situations in which giving away freebies can actually make selling more negotiable. First, a series of stories: I…

  • Don’t take no for an answer! (Ask a question)

    One of the most common words any negotiator hears is “no.” “Can you do X?” “No.” “What if I offered you Y?” “No.” “Would you consider Z?” “Sorry, no.” Most negotiators, hearing the fateful word, conclude it’s time to concede. But negotiators who have read my previous posts know that the temptation to concede is…