Wolfgang Schnellbaecher

in an expensive city, only go to one dealer in a rather high-class part of the town.

We could state right away, we will only go to you or to the dealer.

We could tell them how much we love the car.

We could not ask for a rebate.

And once you've listed all these things and then turned it around, then you really come close to what's an optimum.

To me, the inverting method is also a great reminder.

Good buying can be fun, and good buying can be creative.

And now, we are already at rule number three, negotiate from strong starting positions.

People might think strong negotiations have something to do with strong-arming somebody, with being mean, with being aggressive, almost yelling at people.

The opposite is true.

It starts way before, and it has a lot to do with the alternatives you build.

You need to align what are alternative suppliers, what are maybe alternative products,

Good buyers maybe even extend the usage of the existing solution just to ensure they're not under time pressure.

The superstar buyers go even further.

Sometimes they destroy alternatives just to make a point.

Now, that sounds a bit odd, doesn't it?

But in this world, you learn best from extremes.

And let me tell you an extreme historical example.

In 1519, Hernando Cortes arrived in Veracruz, Mexico.

He only had 500 soldiers in front of him, the vast Aztec empire.