I have a friend that recently bought a used car at full price. His excuse: “I asked for a discount but they didn’t give it to me so I gave up.” Sure, he could probably stand to learn a little bit about better negotiating but there is a better way to get a better deal.

It’s no secret that most people have a hard time talking about money — just look at how many bloggers write about ways to ask for raises at work or save $100 on your next purchase. Sure, it’s great if people use the advice but most people won’t, so why keep beating the proverbial dead horse?

The point is not to avoid asking for the discount but to know exactly what to do when that tactic fails.

The art of asking for more

Next time you’re negotiating, try asking for more. I use this tactic when buying cars, dealing with vendors or bargaining with street merchants and it works every time — despite what you might believe, most businesses would much rather give you something more than reduce the price. When your request gets shot down, don’t walk away pissed off — ask for something more: get them to throw in something else. (Tip: If you’re buying a car, you can usually get floor mats and your first few service visits absolutely free — ask for them after you think you’ve gotten the price as low as you can go.)

What businesses are thinking

At a 10% discount, a typical firm would need to sell 50% more units to keep the same profit on the bottom-line. Costs also increase in the “discount” game, so companies can literally discount themselves out of business. Instead of cutting cash out of the deal, they’d rather add value to whatever you’re buying — this “value added” proposition means they can “give away” something that won’t come out their profits. Done right, it adda to the customer’s experience and that’s the key to getting that customer back.

Oh, and one more thing

Use this tip when you’re negotiating your next pay raise. If the conversation gets bogged down before you get to the number you want, start asking for other perks instead — extra vacation days, telecommuting perks or educational reimbursements. It’s all fair game.

I’ve consulted a number of small businesses over the past few weeks and, unsurprisingly, they seem to be concerned about the same things that most of my non-entrepreneurial friends are: saving money.

Here are three tips for cutting your costs immediately:

• Ditch the underused gadgets. Knowing exactly what you have is the first step — classify things by how often you use them. It doesn’t have to be complicated, simply look for anything that you don’t use on a daily basis. Some examples of this would be old cellphones, DSLR cameras that you don’t use every day, old computer monitors, extra laptops, unused printers and scanners. Sell or donate these immediately.
• Manual processes are your enemy. Filing receipts, paying bills, checking voicemails — there’s no limit to the number of administrative tasks we have to deal with every day. If you haven’t already, get yourself a virtual assistant and start offloading tasks. Why do something yourself when you can have someone else do it for you, usually for less than $15/hour. (Check out the Ultimate Virtual Assistant Guide for more details.)
• Avoid overpriced (and unnecessary) contracts. First, take a look at your cell phone bill — you’re likely to have many unused features on there that are eating you up. I call my cell phone company at least once a year and ask them to review my past statements to see if it makes sense to modify my contract in some way. Most times, a small adjustment to the minutes or SMS credits on the account will save me at least $20/month. For the rest of your contracts, use the A La Carte method to save yourself some money or simply renogitiate your contracts — there’s no harm in simply asking for a discount.

So, take a few minutes to try these out for yourself — the people I’ve talked to have saved at least a few hundred dollars per month and freed up hours of wasted time each week. All it takes is a few simple things to make it happen.

Like most people starting out in their careers, I was making chump change while trying to pay for school and figuring out what to do with my life. To be honest, I ended up wasting most of my money on overpriced (and horrible) food at school instead of accepting near-daily invitations to head out to lunch with a group of people from work. (My excuse was that I was saving money by avoiding real restaurants and that somehow hanging out with other college students would get me ahead in life – fast. What a joke.)

To make things worse, I was coming from an entrepreneurial family (seriously, every Indian family owns at least one business) and working for “The Man” wasn’t something I couldn’t handle for much longer.

I’m not sure what changed my mind, but I decided to accept one of the invitations to head out to lunch with the office. Boy, I wish I’d made that choice way earlier. I instantly realized a few things:

• It’s cheap. Going out to lunch with the office wasn’t as expensive as I thought. In fact, the food was cheaper and tasted better.
• You’ll make new friends. I immediately started associating with people that I never interacted with while I was at the office. Expanding your circle within the workplace is never a bad idea.
• Find out who’s who. A casual environment tends to make people loosen up. It was easy to figure out who was committed to the company and who the chronic complainers were. (Tip: Be sure to keep your distance from the complainers when you get back to work – they’ll talk your ear off.)
• Get close to the movers and shakers. Thanks to that casual environment, you’ll also form a rapport with your colleagues. And if one of your peers gets promoted, guess who she’s most likely to recommend when other promotions come available? Yep, you got it – her favorite lunch buddies. It really is all about who you know!
• You’ll expand your circle. Lunch was a cost-effective way of networking. Everyone wants to eat around the same time so we were surrounded by other local professionals.
• Know where you stand. The fact that I was actually invited to lunch was a good sign. (If you’re not getting the invitations yet, take a look in the mirror and make sure you’re sending the right messages. My series on rethinking your personal brand will help you get started.)

Going out to lunch can not only be fun, but a valuable career tool – you never know who you’ll meet. I met two of my mentors and future business partners at one of these office lunches – that was the best $8 I could have spent. (Tip: Attend or Host a Lunch 2.0 event in your area – it’s a great way to meet even more people.)

Image Credit: jslander

It’s already halfway through May and you should have received your federal stimulus check by now. Do you know what you’re going to do with it?

A few weeks ago, my friend Ramit quoted me when I said that books are the most cost-effective way to invest in yourself. If you buy one book per week, for $20 each, that’s $1,000 per year. If you get one good idea per week, it’s worth it. It’s true – you could spend thousands of dollars for a semester of classes or no more than $20 for a book that you can read in a weekend. Which would you rather do?

Now, just imagine if you could learn just one new idea from the book and then actually apply it the next day. How much do you think that might be worth? (Answer: a whole hell of a lot.)

I’ll keep things simple for you, buy these two books today and start reading this weekend. I’ve recently read them and can tell you that you won’t need more than 4 hours to quickly read through both:

“The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)” (Seth Godin)

“The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich” (Timothy Ferriss)

Once you’re done, I’m sure you’ll have atleast one new idea you can try at work (or school) the very next day. It’s that simple, just get started.

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to get additional tips and early access to some new things I’m working on. Also, feel free to email me – I’m always happy to help you get ahead on a one-on-one basis.

Image Credit: m500