You Cannot Sell The Ticket When The Plane Has Taken Off

The Spanish are great negotiators… if you think that taking a stubborn position and entrenching yourself is a great negotiating tactic. They have a fixed position and stick to it and never ever under any circumstances negotiate… unless they have to.

Faro Llanes Asturias

This is strange in a culture where bartering and haggling were the norm for centuries. These days it is difficult. It is reflected in the housing market where they lose sales because they refuse to get off their high horse and negotiate down after being spoilt by rising house prices for almost a decade and it is reflected in many other aspects of society.

Yesterday I realised this again while trying to get a last minute bargain for a place to go on holiday. I phoned up a place at the start of last month which was just about perfect for us as it is directly below our friend’s flat in Llanes in Asturias. The owners were asking too much for a week so I let it lie for a while. Anyway yesterday two days before the proposed holiday I phoned back, or rather got my friend who lives above to ring back. He offered them less and they outright refused to budge on price, not a cent less. I got back to him and told him to send a final offer by text message and he did. They got back and told him to get me to phone.

So I did!

I got my discount too. However I wasn’t going to get any discount until I mentioned one little thing

“You cannot sell the ticket when the plane has taken off”

Seriously I don’t even think they had considered that my negotiation was done just 28 hours before we were going to leave if we went. Spain is different and time flies when you are having fun. However remember when negotiating or promoting products that scarcity and time limits work. I am a scarce resource two days before the flat would remain empty and the time pressure helped me too.

How can you use this to your advantage?

Other Posts You May Want To Read

1) Cialdini and Influence

2) Who Do You Influence

3) Why Spain and Websites Don’t Mix

PS If a PS exists on a website. Obviously I am on holiday this week so if you want to get in touch then tweet me on @grahunt or @e_solo.

Originally posted 2010-07-31 10:14:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter