Artful Negotiation
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter — ’tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.”
Mark Twain
“Can you do any better?”
The first time I heard those words, I was seventeen. I didn’t fully appreciate the power behind that simple question.
I was at an antique-car swap meet with my dad’s friend, Dick Messick, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Dick was a genius, and what he didn’t know about old cars wasn’t worth knowing. We were standing in front of several piles of random junk, covering a space of about twenty-five square feet. All I saw was rust and bent metal.
Dick had initially asked the owner of this menagerie, “What do ya gotta get for that?” He was pointing at a tired-looking steering wheel, peeking out from under one of the many heaps of dirty parts. The owner replied, “Fifteen dollars.”
Dick paused and then asked, “Can you do any better?” The owner paused too, then said, “Twelve dollars.”
Dick paid him, picked up the steering wheel, and we walked on. A total of sixteen words had been spoken. Out of curiosity, I asked Dick what kind of steering wheel it was, already certain that he knew. He replied, “’32 Duesenberg Phaeton.”
“What’s it worth?” I asked.
“About twelve thousand dollars.”
I learned that day to let the seller name his price, and be prepared to walk away. Since then, I have used those two phrases in succession, hundreds of times, in nearly every situation where the price was negotiable.
Try it, and be sure to pause in between the first and second sentence. You will be amazed by the results.
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