Tips from salespeople on how to score better deals on autos, furniture and home improvement projects

When it comes to negotiating, salespeople generally agree on one thing: You’re at a disadvantage as soon as you step inside their store.

Customers, they say, are usually uninformed about the items or services they want to buy. They’re too enthusiastic or polite. They rarely know how to act or what to say to get a better deal. Most of all, customers don't know what their salesperson knows, including what might convince them to lower the price.

“Out of every 10 people, most of them — maybe eight or nine — don’t even try to get a better deal,” said Jared Grabina, of Coram, a sales director at an educational technology company and a former furniture salesperson.

No longer. If you strive to be the rare deal-striking consumer, read on.

Newsday interviewed former Long Island car salespersons, furniture sellers and home contractors to get the skinny on ways to push any negotiation in your favor.

Here’s what they had to say.

Tip 1: Arm yourself with information

Think of the internet as your best friend.

Online marketplaces will help you find out what others have paid for similar items and services. Dealer websites will tell you what kind of fees or financing options are available. Online message boards are loaded with tips and testimonials that will help guide you.

“You’ve got to have a clear vision of what you want to do, and what it should cost,” said James Barrett, owner of JP Barrett Fine Carpentry in Riverhead.

Barrett says his clients tend to get the most out of their money if they come to him with a good understanding of what they want to do, how long it will take to do it, and where to source the materials for the cheapest prices.

Michael Wilson, a former Honda and Toyota salesperson from Suffolk County, says you should never walk into a car dealership without doing some research beforehand on what you'll find on the lot.

Wilson says dealers routinely advertise on their websites their latest promotional deals or financing specials. And online data aggregators like CarFax.com will tell you what cars are on the lot, what condition they’re in, and how long they’ve been sitting.

“If it’s been there for a month, two months, they need to sell that car,” Wilson said. “They’re probably going to give that car away at a certain point,” and sell it for less than it’s worth to anyone willing to drive it off the lot.

When it comes to furniture or other big-ticket items, it always helps to walk into the store with a plan, Grabina said. You should know if the item is relatively unique — and, if not, how many other stores are selling similar items at competitive prices. You'll want to have a good understanding of how much the item generally costs, whether it might benefit from a protection plan, he said. 

“And also take your measurements of your room before you go,” Grabina said. “You should have an idea of what you can even fit in your house before you fall in love with something and then realize it doesn’t fit in the room.”

Tip 2: Think like a salesperson

Have you ever wondered why car dealers plaster their showrooms with information about their financing offers? Or why furniture salespersons are always mentioning the importance of an extended warranty?

It’s because of two sacred words in the sales business: profit margin.

Salespeople can make more money on these side hustles than they do on the item that you’re buying. Smart shoppers know that, and they use that knowledge to their advantage.

Wilson said car buyers should always approach the salesperson with an offer to finance through the dealer. Doing so should give them the best chances of getting a low price on the car, since the dealer is expecting to make a larger profit off the financing plan.

Once they settle on a price, Wilson said, the buyer could then ask to purchase the car at the same price without financing through the dealer. Or they could go ahead with the dealer financed plan and then quickly pay it off with a low-interest loan from a credit union.

A good negotiator also will realize that salespeople will be under more pressure to make a deal at different times of the year, Wilson said. Car salespersons, for example, will be trying to make their quota at the end of the month or at the end of the year. So if you can wait until then to buy a car, you’ll be in a stronger bargaining position.

“At the end of the month, they’re hustling, trying to sell as many cars as possible to hit those quotas to do better or catch up,” Wilson said. “It’s even better at the end of the year in winter — nobody wants to shop for cars in the snow.”

Tip 3: Silence is golden (most of the time)

Before they even start talking about price, most people already have communicated to the salesperson how much they’re willing to pay. A couple fawning over a red convertible might as well be holding a sign that says “I’ll pay anything: Just give this to me!”

The same thing goes for a family that brings its baby to the store and tells the salesperson that they just relocated in town and need to furnish their new apartment ASAP.

The key is to show only marginal interest, and to be rather opaque about where your limits are, Grabina said.

“If you show them you don’t care about your time, you have a limited budget, and you’re pretty indifferent on their furniture, you have a lot of power in that situation,” he said. “They’re going to start asking: ‘What do I have to do to earn your business today?’ ”

Silence is perhaps your most potent tool when negotiating with a car dealer, Wilson said. People who talk too much, who are overly flexible or accommodating, tend to unwittingly weaken their position with salespeople, he said, who are trained to nudge the price higher. 

“When you go back and forth about prices with car salesmen, you’ll notice that they’ll shut up,” he said. “They’re waiting to see what you say, and they’ll feed off of what you say and react from that … When you stop talking, it shows that you’re at the end of your negotiation.” 

The opposite is sometimes true when it comes to purchasing services instead of merchandise. Take home improvement, which requires more interaction between buyer and seller. Barrett said his clients usually benefited if they could give him a good understanding of the maximum they'd spend as well as the amount of time they're willing to allow workers in their home.

“And this can save money too,” Barrett said. “You could ask your contractor if he can work with what’s there. Could he, for example, patch the siding of your house instead of replacing it? Or could he paint it instead? You can ask him to be creative.”

Tip 4: Control the conversation

One reason why a lot of customers fail to get a good deal is that negotiations sometimes require a level of aggression that makes them uncomfortable. Good deal makers will speak up early and often, and they’re always looking for ways to drive negotiations in their favor.

That said, there’s a lot that customers can do to advocate for themselves that does not require much arm-twisting.

For example, instead of navigating myriad taxes and fees that tend to confuse buyers about the car’s actual price, customers could ask the salesperson to negotiate around a bottom line “out-the-door” price that includes taxes and fees.

“It’s an easier conversation if you just say ‘I want to pay this much total, can you give me the car?’ ” said Mike Kumar, a veteran car salesperson who has worked a variety of dealerships on Long Island over the past two decades.

And if you’re planning to offer your vehicle as a trade-in, be ready to defend its value to the dealer. Wilson says most dealers will try to lower the value of your trade-in by pointing out every scratch, dent or imperfection. You should know how to counter that with your own sale pitch.

“You need to do your due diligence and know what it’ll cost to buff it out or whatever or get a paint job,” Wilson said. You should be prepared to sell the dealer on what's special about their car, he added.

“Say I'm trading in a red Honda,” Wilson said. “So if they point out that it has scratches, I can say, 'Yeah, my car has a scratch on it, but my car is a red car. You’re not going to find a car like this just anywhere.' ”

Ultimately, the customer has the advantage of not needing to be there. Everyone who walks into a showroom should know that they can take their business across the street.

“You need to be the one in control of the pricing conversation,” Grabina said. That means dictating what you’ll pay for something and then just waiting to see if the salesperson can meet that price.

Don’t budge. Just tell them what you’ll pay and then shut up and wait. If they can’t meet your price, then ask them to thrown in extras to sweeten the deal — free oil changes, protection plans, dealer fees.

If you’ve asked for too much, the salesperson will let you know, Wilson said.

“When they say we’re not going to go further, and they let you leave the dealership, that’s when you know you’re at the bottom,” he said.