Rules of Work, 5th Edition

RULE 2

Be able to walk away

You know how to haggle, don’t you? You make a low offer, they reduce the price a bit, you ask for a better price, they meet you half way – if all goes right. If not, and they turn down your latest offer, you walk away. The idea is that they come running after you and agree to your price. The risk, of course, is that they don’t. If you sheepishly go back to the seller, they know that you want the thing more than they need to sell it to you, and they hold all the cards.

The way to make the system work is only to walk away knowing that you really don’t want the item enough to pay their price. If they don’t come running, you’re happy to let it go.

This doesn’t apply only to shops and market stalls, of course. It applies ...