Tayo Solagbade’s
Performance Improvement IDEAS
(PI Squared) Newsletter
Monday 17th October 2016
NB: This PI Squared newsletter will be published weekly, on Mondays, in place of the Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, starting from today – 15th February 2016. I’m reinventing my Monday newsletter content and theme, to accommodate my vision of serving the growing audience of serious minded individuals and organizations reaching out to me, with information, education. news and research findings designed to help them do what they do better.
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PII 036: You Need to Think before You Spend – Everything is Negotiable!
It pays to form the habit of aiming to get the best possible value for your money.
There are some people who believe a person who is truly financially successful will not fret about costs – and will instead readily pay whatever s/he is asked, since s/he can afford it.
Sadly, those who think – and live – this way often tend to be persons frequently living well above their means, and far from being financially independent.
In other words, they do not even come close to fitting the description of WEALTHY people as described in the classic bestselling book titled “The Millionaire Next Door“.
In that book, one of the defining qualities that those found by the authors to be financial independent (i.e. having enough wealth to not need to work anymore to maintain their lifestyle) were people with a history of being frugal in every area of their lives.
For instance, they often shop for bargains and rarely settle for buying at expensive retail outlets that media-hyped celebrity types often go to.
Why?
Because such ” Millionaires Next Door” kind of people understand that taking care of the small change, ensures they hold on to more of their big denominated monies.
Click here to learn more about that book, and the wisdom of the real wealthy people it profiles.
People who build their wealth from the ground up never lose their respect for money. They know the way they treat money determines how long they get to keep it around them.
The mental discipline that comes from handling money in this manner – wherein couples sit at the dining or kitchen table each night/weekend to review their income against expenses – is why they are able to STAY rich (sometimes after climbing out of poverty to get there).
Your attitude towards spending money will affect how you handle money in your personal as well as work/business life. This is why it pays to develop the kind of discipline described above.
If for nothing else, do so to avoid letting naughty vendors take advantage of you.
3 personal true stories that illustrate how paying attention to your spending can save you from wasting money:
Recently, we got hold of a new DVD- but my but soon found we could not get the audio to play, even though we could see the crystal clear video images playing back.
After a lot of trial and error, coupled with brainstorming, the kids told me they’d narrowed down to the cable linking the DVD to the TV for audio and video, as faulty.
I challenged them to explain how they could be sure. They told me nothing convincing but continued to insist it was the only logical possibility.
So, I gave them money to go and get a new cable.
A few hours later, they were looking even more stumped as their new cable had not solved the problem!
I was not surprised.
Experience had taught me that it was always best to avoid spending before establishing what the fault is.
Instead go to someone with more knowledge/expertise or insights about the problem and get his/her opinion to help you make a more intelligent deduction about what to do, and how.
That approach has saved me lots of time, and money in the past.
But I wanted my kids to see the difference – so I’d given in to them.
Now that they’d seen that they got it wrong, I reminded them of the suggestion I’d made that they visit the neighborhood technician.
They agreed, and soon returned with news that the man had also initially fingered the cable, but later traced the fault to a component in the DVD itself.
He’d then told them it would cost N1, 000.0 (One Thousand Naira – $1.8 USD approxat the current “crazy” exchange rate).
When I heard that, I took the opportunity to share my experience with them about how to avoid paying too much.
Generally vendors habitually jack up their prices in anticipation that the prospective buyer will demand a hefty reduction. If the latter does not demand such, they end up scalping him/her.
But I argue that some people may not be one of those who love to show they have money by not asking questions about the price they are asked to pay.
There will be people who would be glad to save money in the course of making purchases. Such people need to know they can – and should – try to negotiate pocket friendly prices that will enable them use their money to get more done.
The kids had told me the man wished to speak with me. So later that night I went there with one of my boys. The minute he saw me, the man said it would cost N1, 500.0 (One Thousand Five Hundred Naira).
I told him my kids had said it was N1, 000.0 but he said they’d heard wrong.
At that point I told him we could not pay that much and that if it was going to cost that much, I’d prefer to wait until later to get the money together, noting that N1,500.0 sounded just too high anyway.
As I made to leave, he called out to ask how much I was willing to pay. I replied that N500.0 was all I could afford to spend given my currently limited budget.
He agreed – and asked us to wait while he fixed it.
I took my son aside and asked him if he noted how we’d gone from N1, 000.0 to N1, 500.0 then DOWN to N500.0 within a matter of minutes. His eyes gleamed in understanding as he nodded.
When he later told his elder brother, the latter exclaimed “WOW”.
I ended the day by telling them that when a person gives you a price, it’s rarely going to be cast in stone.
Quite often, you can -and should – try to ask for a better offer. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know what you can get.
While we were waiting, I casually asked the technician how much the cable the kids bought sold for in the market. He replied that it was usually N150 to N200.
My kids had bought it for N300! What was worse, the technician took one look at it and pronounced it substandard i.e. not the original.
So, the vendor had taken advantage of the ready payment made by the kids, to sell them a poor quality version at a price higher than the good quality one. Again, I pointed this fact out to my son – and reminded him to share with his siblings.
Before we left, yet another learning opportunity presented itself.
A lady pepper soup seller came around and served a small bowl of pepper soup to the wife of the technician, who was seated with their baby just outside the shop.
When I saw it, I asked the seller how much it cost – with the intention of buying a bowl for my son, so he could taste it for the first time.
She promptly said “N150”.
But there was something about the way she said it that made me decide I would ask the technician’s wife. So after the seller had retired to the chair at the estate security gate man’s post, across the street, I asked the wife of the technician how much the bowl of soup had cost here.
She said “N100”. I told her the seller had said it was N150 – but she looked quickly back at me and said “Ah no, it’s N100!”
I thanked her, then called out to the seller, and said “Madam, she says she bought her bowl for N100?” pointing to the technician’s wife.
The lady eventually agreed and sold us a similar bowl of soup for N100.
I looked at my son, who had listened to both exchanges and he nodded in understanding. I later told him that asking the seller how much an item is, under certain circumstances, can reveal to him/her that you are not a “regular buyer” and so do not know the real or standard price.
Some sellers/vendors could choose to sell to you at a higher price, and if you fail to discover that is happening, they could go on selling that way to you for YEARS, while others around you get the normal prices and you would not be wiser.
Even if you can afford it, THAT is not a prudent way to use your money. If you can pay N50 why pay N100? It’s better to pay the right price and use what’s left for other important expenses. That will mean you end up with MORE money in your pockets or bank account in the long run.
Now, I know the examples I’ve given are on the personal level, but the truth is that the principle applies to business and workplace situations just as well.
Applying This to Your Farm Business/Workplace
In these harsh economic times, the need to do a lot of HARD thinking before you spend cannot be overemphasized.
There are products and services that you will identify as necessary, but not all of them will come at prices you find affordable or pocket friendly.
You will need to begin studying ALL areas you spend money on. Take the pains to check what your suppliers tell you about the prices you pay, and compare with what obtains from other sources.
Check and compare the prices with the volume and quality you’re getting, to accurately determine that you’re getting justifiable value for your money.
In some cases, regardless of your best efforts, you may discover that some of those items cannot be found at any price lower than what you are told by the vendor. In such cases, if you have no viable alternative, you’ll have to go ahead and buy – or plan towards doing so, by putting the needed money aside over time.
What is important is that you train yourself to always diligently check and ensure that you get something as close as possible for anything you spend your money on.
Once you’re certain that quality and reliability is assured, go a step further to ensure you do not pay more than is reasonable. It pays to be frugal!
No matter how rich you are, reckless spending will only deplete your resources avoidably. And since there is no person or business that does not go through periods of cash flow limitations, a history or habit of poor spending can come round to haunt you later on!
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