It felt weird.

It was good practice.

And it had a good outcome.

The objective: Pay $1 to sign up even though the current price is $50.

I went to the gym, rehearsed my outline a few more times in the car, worried a bit, prayed, and went in.

I didn’t stick to my outline, but still managed to say something like,

“Would it be ridiculous to ask if you would match the price from a couple weeks ago and let me sign up for the cheapest membership for $1?”

Their response:

Sorry, no. We have no control over that. There will probably be a deal on Black Friday if you wait until then.

I go to their website and submit the same basic request expecting another polite refusal.

A general manager emails me back and says essentially the same thing, with one difference:

“I can reach out to you once we have our discounted deals, because we will probably get them early, and we can see if that price will work for you. Let me know if [that] sounds good to you!”

I say sure, and a few weeks later I get this email:

“I got confirmation we are getting the $1…back on Tuesday! Do you want to stop in to get set up or should I give you a call?”

I signed up for $1 instead of $50. Success 🙂

What does this have to do with anything?

When getting better at negotiation, low stakes practice is important. You don’t want to practice in the middle of a prospect call.

Low stakes practice is negotiating a gym membership, seeing if you can get your kid to voluntarily do something they don’t want to do, or seeing if you can improve a relationship with a romantic partner. I’ve heard labels and mirrors work well there.

“Would it be ridiculous…?” is a great format for long shots where you don’t think you’ll get what you want, but want to try anyway.

If you stop talking after the question to let them think, then respond.

Josh

P.S. This list has been feeling off to me. I’m going to send an email on January 2nd asking for your help. If you answer the question at the end of that email, I would really appreciate it.