{"id":3651,"date":"2017-06-09T17:37:04","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T22:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/?p=3651"},"modified":"2017-06-09T17:37:04","modified_gmt":"2017-06-09T22:37:04","slug":"three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nThis story starts a few weeks ago with a seemingly simple task: booking a hotel room.
\nWith a local Milwaukee event kicking off (and an office full of coworkers that I really enjoy and don\u2019t see nearly as often as I\u2019d like to), I took to my usual go-to travel sites and started hunting for availability for a week.
\n$249.00 a night?!<\/em>
\n$315.00 a night, not including taxes and fees?! What in the absolute heck, I wondered. <\/em>
\nConvention? Some kind of festival? Milwaukee is a happening city in the summer, but this seemed extreme. As it turns out, I\u2019d neglected to notice several months back that my trip dates mirrored one tiny<\/em> event happening not too far from our corporate offices: the US Open.
\nI didn\u2019t need to be a Rory McIlroy fan girl to know that this was kind of<\/em><\/strong> a big deal \u2013 and I\u2019d probably<\/em><\/strong> be sleeping under my desk if I didn\u2019t act. Quickly.
\nImmediately, I sent an email to a hotel we use at least a dozen times a year when our customers come to visit, and where we also happen to have a pretty killer corporate rate. The good news? They still had a few rooms available. The bad news? A strict rate blackout.
\nHaving spent more than a few years in the \u201cyou\u2019ll never get what you don\u2019t ask for\u201d school of thought, I picked up the phone.
\n\u201cHi, Carol? Jennifer here. I\u2019m hoping you can help me\u2026\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u201cI completely understand the reason for the policy, Carol, and it\u2019s all well and good that you ONLY enact this type of blackout twice a year\u2026\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cWell, what happens if you don\u2019t sell these rooms? Call me crazy, but wouldn\u2019t it be better to have them occupied at a corporate rate than not at all?\u201d<\/em>
\n\u201cYou guys have been great to work with in the past, but I\u2019m starting to think I might need to look for another hotel partner\u2026\u201d<\/em>
\nI think you get the idea of how my conversation went. In the end, Carol offered to escalate my question to her General Manager and get back to me the following morning.
\nFriday came and went. Monday morning, I left a message for Carol and followed up with an email. Monday afternoon, she apologized for the delay and kindly informed me that her boss\u2019s decision was firm. She was sorry she couldn\u2019t help me.
\nThis experience wasn\u2019t without its frustrations. But, here\u2019s what I learned \u2013 and how it\u2019s relevant to any buyer or seller alike:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Negotiation is uncomfortable<\/strong>. No, not for everyone, but for many. As a buyer, negotiation is your opportunity to share what\u2019s truly important to you. As a seller, it\u2019s an opportunity to win a customer for life.<\/li>\n
  2. Even a pushy customer is a customer with a wallet<\/strong>. Was I forward with Carol? Definitely. But did I \u2013 and do I \u2013 have business to give? Absolutely.<\/li>\n
  3. Situations blow over \u2013 and decision-makers change.<\/strong> In this experience, I didn\u2019t get what I wanted as a customer. Life moves on, and we all survived. Carol\u2019s next boss, though, might feel differently.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For those wondering if I\u2019ll continue to do business with this hotel, the answer? Probably.<\/em> It\u2019s a unique property and our customers have given some pretty rave reviews. And while I\u2019ll (also probably) be sleeping under my desk next week, it\u2019s well worth being uncomfortable from stepping up – and learning a lesson.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \"JP2015\"<\/i>
    \nYou’ve heard of “playing hardball” – but what about buyer hardball? Last week, the Woman Behind the Curtain played it. And this week, she’s sharing her experience for buyers and sellers alike. Ever had a negotiation go the way you expected – or rather, didn’t? Share it below or with Jennifer directly<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This story starts a few weeks ago with a seemingly simple task: booking a hotel room. With a local Milwaukee event kicking off (and an office full of coworkers that I really enjoy and don\u2019t see nearly as often as I\u2019d like to), I took to my usual go-to travel sites and started hunting for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":3652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[4,12,7],"tags":[20,575,14],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThree Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball - REMANU<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball - REMANU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This story starts a few weeks ago with a seemingly simple task: booking a hotel room. With a local Milwaukee event kicking off (and an office full of coworkers that I really enjoy and don\u2019t see nearly as often as I\u2019d like to), I took to my usual go-to travel sites and started hunting for […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"REMANU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/IMG_1742.JPG-e1497047546201.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Woman Behind the Curtain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Woman Behind the Curtain\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Woman Behind the Curtain\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/person\/9383f655490ea148118d4ff89222deaf\"},\"headline\":\"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/\"},\"wordCount\":654,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"customer service\",\"playing hardball\",\"sales\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Customer Service\",\"Reman U articles\",\"Sales\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/\",\"name\":\"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball - REMANU\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/\",\"name\":\"REMANU\",\"description\":\"Just another ETE Reman | Remanufactured, Rebuilt & Used Auto Transmissions & Repair Sites site\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#organization\",\"name\":\"REMANU\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/cropped-remanu-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/cropped-remanu-1.png\",\"width\":100,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"REMANU\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/person\/9383f655490ea148118d4ff89222deaf\",\"name\":\"The Woman Behind the Curtain\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e84af406b34990df996bcaaa04073c43?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e84af406b34990df996bcaaa04073c43?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Woman Behind the Curtain\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/author\/jenniferp\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball - REMANU","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball - REMANU","og_description":"This story starts a few weeks ago with a seemingly simple task: booking a hotel room. With a local Milwaukee event kicking off (and an office full of coworkers that I really enjoy and don\u2019t see nearly as often as I\u2019d like to), I took to my usual go-to travel sites and started hunting for […]","og_url":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/","og_site_name":"REMANU","article_published_time":"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/IMG_1742.JPG-e1497047546201.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Woman Behind the Curtain","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Woman Behind the Curtain","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/"},"author":{"name":"The Woman Behind the Curtain","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/person\/9383f655490ea148118d4ff89222deaf"},"headline":"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball","datePublished":"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/"},"wordCount":654,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#organization"},"keywords":["customer service","playing hardball","sales"],"articleSection":["Customer Service","Reman U articles","Sales"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/","url":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/","name":"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball - REMANU","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-09T22:37:04+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/2017\/06\/09\/three-things-i-learned-from-playing-buyer-hardball\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Three Things I Learned From Playing Buyer Hardball"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/","name":"REMANU","description":"Just another ETE Reman | Remanufactured, Rebuilt & Used Auto Transmissions & Repair Sites site","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#organization","name":"REMANU","url":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/cropped-remanu-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/cropped-remanu-1.png","width":100,"height":100,"caption":"REMANU"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/person\/9383f655490ea148118d4ff89222deaf","name":"The Woman Behind the Curtain","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e84af406b34990df996bcaaa04073c43?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e84af406b34990df996bcaaa04073c43?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Woman Behind the Curtain"},"url":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/author\/jenniferp\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etereman.com\/remanu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}