Plus, hey, I’m a guy and I love a hook-up.  A free desert at a restaurant, a discount on my watch, even a better cut of dry-aged steak at the butcher for the price of the regular ribeye.  I love getting a deal on stuff as mundane as meat as I do when I bought my vintage sports car (for under $10 K, because the dealer wanted it off the lot to make room for the usual SUVs and pick-ups they typically sell).  Love that thrill of victory, and knowing how to negotiate for a bargain is fun and very useful when your savings account is leaner than it’s been in years.

Here are Be Better Guys’ five tips for getting a better price on most things.  These are methods I’ve used that have worked for me so try ‘em out, see what flies.

All About Who You Know.  I get my jewelry at a discount of almost 40-50%.  I get my wine habitually with 20% knocked off.  I’ve bought clothes for half off when no-one else was getting that type of discount.  How?  Because shopping at locally-owned stores repeatedly and getting to meet and know the owners changes everything.  Say you want a flat-screen plasma.  You can’t get personal discounts at Sam’s Club.  Instead go into a local, “mom-and-pop” electronics shop in your town and get to know the owners by buying smaller items over time. Introduce yourself.  Tell the owners where you live, ask about them, get personal and lay out what you’re looking at as items down the road.   When the big purchase is in front of you, you know the right folks to negotiate with already and the relationship is well-established. Now you’re ahead of all the other yahoos in the store.

Go.  Buy.  Repeat.  You have to be a repeat customer at certain places before you’ve “earned” the chance to get the friends and family discount.  To save over the long term when shopping, you have to spend in the short term.  Going into a place on a second or third visit and trying to negotiate price when no-one there really knows you is presumptuous.  Yes, you may get a discount, but you may also be labeled “a knob.”  Come in not expecting anything and establish yourself as a regular; you’ll know the right time to push for a discount because they’ll smile at you when you walk in the door.

Ya Gotta Ask.  I used to assume that, when I bought wine in a local wine shop, the price was the price, period.   Then I would go and go and go some more and over some months, I asked, “Does this wine ever go on sale?”  Owner takes the bottle from my hand, looks at it, mulls over the price, and says, “I’ll knock off 15%, David, you’ve been a great customer.”  Now I never have to ask.  I just get it every time.  And today it’s up to 20%.

Shoot It Straight.  Last year I’m in the jeweler where I bought our wedding bands, and I wanted to trade in some smaller diamond earrings of my wife’s for a slightly larger pair.  It was time, and it was for a major birthday of hers.  So I told the owner of the special occasion.  And when he showed me a larger pair, it was also considerably more expensive.  Way out of my range.  So I said, flat out, “You know, those are a little on the high end, and they look great, she’d love them, but I can’t make that work.”  The owner paused, then said, “Tell you what, she will love them, let me take off 40% for you and we’ll make it up on your next purchase!”  Which he didn’t.  Next time I came in, he knocked off 40% from that purchase, too.  And I’m a customer for life.

Don’t Give Up On The Big Boxes.  I have even gotten discounts at the big box stores, though not regularly.  Here’s how it once worked for me:  There was a particular Nikon digital SLR that I wanted but I missed when it was on sale because I was out of town.  There was another comparable camera that was discounted even deeper than the Nikon and was on sale this week.  I explained to the sales guy that I was out of town, could I get the sale price for the Nikon that was shown last week.  He got his manager.  When I asked the same thing of the manager, he said, “You’ve been here before, right?”  “Yeah, plenty of times,” I say.  So the manager says, “You know, I’ll give you the Nikon at the price of the other camera on sale this week, that ok?”  “YESSSS, IT IS!”.  Point is, you can negotiate a bit at the big boxes, just don’t expect to get the sort of hook-up you might at a local shop.

My wife will tell you, I’m all about a hook-up.  I won’t go to certain restaurants if I don’t think we might not get an extra round for free.  I pass on shopping in most any store where I don’t know anyone.  Hell, if I thought I could save a few bucks by going to the same gas station every week, I’d probably go out of my way to do it.  I’m cheap as hell, but I also like to feel like I’m coming away with a good deal, a hook-up, victorious.  Lots of guys love the thrill of the chase so I know I’m not alone.

The key is knowing that the way to winning is to not play like all you’re trying to do is get a hook-up.  If it’s written all over your face that the only reason you’re there is to get a discount today and that you have no intent on being a regular, dependable customer, don’t expect much.  If you commit to a store, they’ll commit to you.  It takes time, and it takes relationships (like everything in life) and it takes being genuine. They can tell if you’re slimy.  Be the real deal and you may be surprised how many dollars stay in your pocket!