All of us are looking for the best deal in town.
When we shop, who wants to pay whole price? In cities and towns all around the world we love to bargain, cut coupons, and browse the internet for “cheaper than what is found” deals.
In some instances if a product is too expensive we may purchase an alternative “what we think is similar” one that is cheaper. Sometimes, we may wait for the cycle of demand to slow down and for prices to come down. In others, we may find vendors who are marginalizing their sale price and purchase from them.
There are probably a countless number of ways of buying a product, but only we know the art of getting the best deal and buying when it is the right time, from the right vendor, at the right price. What is driving our need to probably buy a product is the qualitative perceived value we think we can get from it based on the quantitative cost figure stipulated by vendors and manufacturers.
What is known is that it is easy to put quantitative cost to material objects. After all, what price we see placed on an object is the intrinsic value we build into a product. In cases where we think the price is high, we bargain to bring the price down to what we think the perceived value of the object should be – or to boost our ego that we got a great deal.
Regardless of how bargaining or deals are accomplished – for the best deals both the provider and consumer of the product must be happy. If a consumer feels cheated by a vendor for paying more for product or receiving a defective product he or she will probably never do business with that vendor again. Also if a vendor is not able to make his or her margins on a product sale they will probably not offer that product anymore driving customers away.
Keeping this in perspective, is it possible to take the same approach that a vendor takes to sell a product, a material object – to instead sell an idea or a want, an immaterial object?
Specifically can we use the same concept of offering discounts that vendors use, to sell our ideas and wants to those whom are closest to us – our spouses, significant others, friends, business partners, and co-workers?
Now there is a difference in the value placed between material objects and immaterial objects. For material costs, value is derived by quantitative cost which is the base retail price. However, for immaterial goods – our ideas, wants and desires – it’s impossible to sell it to others for a specific number – these things are priceless and carry qualitative cost.
Qualitative costs are derived by a variety of factors such as emotional ties, history of association, and quality of the relationship. On the other hand, quantitative prices are derived by other factors, for example, cost to manufacture, labor rates, and number of products built – and these numbers can go up and down driving product costs higher or lower.
What we do all the time, whether we are cognizant of this or not, is that we try to sell our thoughts, ideas, and wants to others – and believe our ideas are priceless – when the reality is that the person we are selling our idea to has already placed a qualitative price on the idea.
We place value in our thoughts and shop them around to others to convince them our ideas are great and the best. But the funny thing is that everyone out there is looking for a great deal too – and they don’t care about your thoughts and ideas only – after all, doesn’t the other person’s thought and idea count as well?
Furthermore, isn’t it their right to sell you their idea as well if you can sell them yours? Yes, we can certainly build the case for married couples or parents, etc. that they shouldn’t be victims of other people’s ideas, but even spouses and children have individual thoughts and desires that want to be heard and fulfilled.
So, how do we negotiate and bargain on our ideas and thoughts that we want to convince others about? The truth is that we directly or indirectly negotiate all the time. It’s funny but we even negotiate with ourselves. Should I take action or not take action? Should I say this or say that? What if he or she takes what I say or do the wrong way? Get my point?
Keeping this in mind, what if there was a way that we could achieve our wants and needs from others by putting our thought on sale? By wants and needs I mean things we desire from others like having them agree with our concepts, strategies and ideas.
What we need to be aware of is that wants or needs are driven by our ego to fulfill personal desires and this fulfillment is something we are seeking from others. In my opinion, it is much better and healthier to put your thought on sale and give others a great deal – making your idea really “count” for them.
Our idea and thought doesn’t have a value like a product. The value is derived by our ego. If ego is high, the idea of enforcing the thought is high and vice-versa. If others are lowering their ego to accept some part of our thought, than why not take the lead and lower our ego to have the other person accept some portion of our idea?
Let’s try to meet them half way. Now we are negotiating and everyone is getting a great deal.