Today I’m going to share with you a short post on how you can save 20% on your Broadband bills right away. I have done this 3 times now, so I know it works.
1. Determine how much you are trying to negotiate.
Even before you start the process, determine the amount or the percentage you are willing to negotiate.
2. Do your homework.
Go to the websites of a few competing broadband internet providers and find out their rates. Ideally, you’d want to know the exact pricing information, including the download speeds and limits. Compare it with your data plan and have two pieces of information handy – a)the data plan pricing of their biggest competitor
b)the lowest priced data plan with the given parameters
3. Don’t go straight into the negotiation.
Ideally, start off with something related to bill payment, bill cycle etc. and then move on to the negotiation. This helps you build a rapport with the customer service executive.
4. Phrase your negotiation properly.
Don’t ask a yes or no question. Ask an open ended question, but make it easy.
NOT GOOD: “Can you give me a discount?”
BETTER: “Here’s the thing. I see that I’ve been paying ‘X’
amount for my connection and although I’m fairly happy with your service, I’m sure that this amount is on the expensive side. So, What can you do to help me?”
5. Ask for the higher ups, their supervisor.
Generally, low-level customer representatives won’t be in a position to offer you a discount. Either they’ll transfer you to their supervisor, or if they don’t ask them to.
- Negotiate like a granny
6. Now, use the homework you did, to negotiate with this supervisor.
Supervisor: “I see that you’re not happy with the pricing. But, unfortunately, this is what we charge all of our customers for this data plan.”
Noob move: “Ok. I guess you can’t do anything.” Yeah, moron.
There’s no written rule that all customers have to be charged the same for the same service. In fact, here’s a piece of information that will make you believe that it’d be way more advantageous for the service provider to just give you a discount.
It costs 10x more to acquire a new customer, than to retain a present customer.
Pro AcetheSystem Move: Have your numbers ready so you can say, “I’ve been a customer for so long, and in total I’ve paid you ‘Y’ over this period of time. It would be very unfortunate, if there comes a situation where I’d have to switch to another company.”
At this point, I’m sure the supervisor would say, “Ok, Sir. What is the ball park figure that you’re looking to go down to?”
This is where you use the competitor information and don’t just pull a number out of the bag.
Note: There’s just so much discount the supervisor can offer. A 20% cut is significant. Imagine you’re paying 1750 for your plan. A 20% discount would mean savings of 350 per month or 4200 per year.
All of this took me 14 minutes in total to do today. That’s a saving of 300/yr/min. SIGNIFICANT, indeed.
7. Don’t give up, if still the answer is ‘No’.
Generally, by this point they’ll have offered you a discount and only once have I had to take the next step.
Tell the supervisor to forward the call to the cancellation department. Trust me. People in this department are much more ‘willing and accommodating’. Frankly, no sane business organization wants to lose your business.
Bonus step: Now, try the same tactic for your other bills, bank transaction fees, Credit Card charges and other stuff.
Also, let me know in the comments how it worked out for you.
Don’t wait. You CAN “TRY THIS AT HOME.”
This post originally appeared on ‘Ace the System.
