If you are like me and millions of other people around the country then you recently upgraded to one of the newest iPhones.
I personally went with the 5S (go big or go home) and was reminded of the for-profit business that is AT&T.
Nothing surprising except when the sales rep mentioned the $36 upgrade fee that would be due on my next statement.
It had been a few years since I last upgraded my phone so I completely forgot about that additional fee. Which from my research serves almost no specific purpose except to increase profits.
What I’d like to quickly go over today is a very strong negotiation technique I use every day in my professional and personal life. It’s so simple you won’t believe how easy it is to use.
That technique: Asking
Nothing fancy like pattern interrupts but still very useful. Especially in negotiations
where you are trying to create a win win situation. The thing is that win-wins are much harder to accomplish if there is not clear communication on what both parties want.
You not only want to ask what they want from the partnership, you have to know what you want and ask for it. They can’t read your mind and you shouldn’t expect them to. So by asking for your must haves you position yourself much better (obviously) to get what you want.
So when my next statement arrived I was ready to ask for what I wanted. To get the upgrade fee waived.
Now you may not always have leverage to get what you want in all negotiations but I felt I did with AT&T as a long time customer. I have been with AT&T since the Cingular days. So long that I am grandfathered into their unlimited data plan. I have been extremely loyal to them. Additionally when we moved to San Diego I chose to switch from Time Warner Cable to AT&T.
I felt that I had enough leverage to request they refund that small charge. So I called in and said the below.
Hello, I recently updated to the new iPhone 5S and noticed on my bill that there is a $36 “upgrade fee” associated with it.
Since I’ve been a loyal customer for over 7 years, have never made a late payment, added my wife to my account, and recently started using AT&T for my home cable, internet, and phone. I would like to request that the upgrade fee be waived.
Pretty easy statement to which she complied with almost immediately. No need to get a manager. No need to haggle. No struggle at all.
And from the interaction I feel confident saying that all I had to do to get this fee waived was to simply ask. I could have been a brand new customer and they probably would have still waived the fee.
But ONLY if I still asked them to do it.
In negotiations sometimes this is all that you need to do. Ask for what you want if the current deal on the table is not on par with what you had in mind.
~ Johnny Bravo
Image courtesy of hinnamsaisuy / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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