Haggle Like Lord Of War To Defend Price

Nic Cage stars in 2005 biopic, Lord Of War, potrraying the life of an arms dealer.

The above pic is of a particularly nasty chap he supplies; Liberian President Baptiste.

At one point we see the brutal dictator ask for a discount.

What follows is almost textbook defence from the salesman (called Yuri).

Baptiste: I can’t pay your asking price, Yuri.

We are not a rich people and the market is already flooded with your Kalashnikovs.

In some places you can buy one for the price of a chicken.

Yuri: You can’t just look at the unit price.

You forget the ancillary costs.

End user certificates need to be forged and notarized, shell companies set up, insurance purchased, pilots and crews hired.

Not to mention the bribes.

You can’t get a nut and bolt out of the Eastern bloc without a bribe.

There’s one bribe for the nut.

Another for the bolt.

This is an expensive proposition.

The age-old ‘you’re too expensive’ price objection.

What’s neat about the set-up is that the ‘client’ makes an effort to justify why the price is too high. A trio of despairs.

Then the ‘rep’ does what too few do. Defends the price.

A rapid-fire list of all the causes why the price is the price.

Beautifully delivered.

Such natural yet surely rehearsed spiel.

Just like how yours should be.

How do you handle the price objection?

Craft one with both a lengthy list of reasons as well as colourful metaphor and you are home.

The above worked its magic with the tyrant.

He offered to pay up.

As a post-script… what followed is also instructive. The gunrunner passed on a free piece of tactical advice. For which the customer was grateful and saw his supplier in a new light.

This was done after the deal.

So many inexperienced sellers would use this as pre-sale meat.

Just proving that sometimes the best bullet is the one you leave ’til last.