This one is an oldie but a goody. One of my most popular posts. Do these tactics still work? The concepts are still correct. All of these companies want new customers, not crappy old existing customers, so be prepared to jump!
Where do you get the best deals? I find the customer retention deals to be the best. My deal on the new iPhone after using pretty much the same script I have used to save money on:
- Rogers , Bell or Telus Internet Fees
- Bell Landline phones
- Rogers , Cogeco, Shaw , or Bell Cable fees
- etc., etc.,
by (hopefully) getting to the Customer Retention (or the folks who can make deals) group on the phone. The scenario becomes quite straightforward, however beforehand. You need to collect some important information:
- How long have you been a customer if you are an existing customer? If you have been a customer in good standing (i.e. you paid your bills on time, etc.,) keep that in mind too.
- Do you have viable alternatives to the service you are attempting to get at a cheaper rate? Usually, if you are spread out across various companies, you can make statements like, “I have Internet with Rogers, and they keep bugging me to move my phone over to them”, or “Bell Fibe keeps bugging me about how cheap and how fast their internet service is, and I already have Bell phone”, etc.,
- You can do your own research and talk to competing services and get real “deals” from them, so you can make specific comments about what the competition has offered you.
Also keep in mind if you are bluffing, you cannot let that come out, or you are screwed. I typically am not bluffing, in that I have no real allegiance to any of the major telecom service providers in Canada (or in the world for that matter).
Step 1: Call Sales or Customer Service
You must make this call first since we have figured out that Mortar and Brick Stores are No-Ops. I spoke to a Salesperson at the Bell Store and they are equally frustrated that they cannot offer any “deals”. You must make the first call, be polite, and talk to this first person, ask what kind of deal they can give you. Almost all of the time this first person can do nothing (I am being polite, this first-person can do nothing for you).
Eventually, you will need to utter the important statement: “Can I please speak to Customer Retention group please?“. If they will not connect you, thank them, hang up and call back again a while later, and hopefully that person will connect you with the folks who can make deals for you. If you can’t get through after several tries, ask to talk to a supervisor. Maybe they are the folks to talk to?
Step 2: Customer Retention
Once you are talking to Customer Retention (or the supervisor or the magic deal-making person), you need to make it clear you want a better deal because:
- You are a long-time customer.
- Their competition wants you.
Or any other reason if you can think of one. Getting this person to give you a better deal (or the best deal) is essential. It would be best to get them to think you deserve a deal. If customer retention simply restates the existing deal that the first person told you, this is the wrong person. You need to ask for another person or their supervisor. I have found that no matter what, the first deal you get from Customer Retention is not “The Deal“, ask for more! Keep pounding home the point that you are a desirable client, and you want more. Keep at this, pound away about how you want a better deal, and you deserve it.
Step 3: Close the Deal
After you have spent enough time (it seems 30-60 minutes is average for me) and you feel you have a good enough deal from Customer Retention, you must close this deal! How do you close this deal? First, don’t just hang up and assume you have the deal. Get all the particulars of who you spoke with:
- Their Name
- Their phone number
- Any identifier code for this great deal? Thus, you get what you deserve when you go to a Mortar and Brick store to consummate the deal.
- The exact amount that this is saving you. See if they might e-mail the information to you.
I have seen more than one “great deal” go sour when you show up to close the deal. Suddenly the deal disappeared like a fart in the wind. An example would be the person who gave you the deal is no longer available. When you close the deal, get it all in writing. Ensure it is the deal you wanted. Do not let them make minor adjustments that change the deal. Sounds complicated? Not really, but I have found that remaining polite throughout works best. You can still be annoyed but there is no reason to be impolite. Restate your point with a bit more emphasis (not yelling, just a sterner tone).
Did I miss anything here?
Does this really work any more? Every time I try to get a better deal, I am simply told they can’t give me anything else.
I have become quite lazy, but I simply gave up on Rogers a while ago, and let me tell you the deals they offered me, after denying me a deal 4 months earlier, were great. I called and got told there was no better deal to be had, but when I moved to Bell, suddenly I was offered as good a deal as Bell to stay.
Most client solution reps will give you the best deal available right off the bat, seeing as how they are being timed on every call (bell aims for an average of 600-800 seconds per call)… so honestly… As great of advice as you thjnk this is… haggling is not the best option… and no, the reps are not graded on how many “deals” they give. They will give you the best deal if you ask them for the best deal. Oh, and I’ll bust another myth here for you too, there is no one that can give you a better deal than client solutions. If you want fee’s reduced they will give you what they are allowed to give…. and 3 years with them is not considered a “loyal” customer, so good luck! –
Astounding, haggling is not the best option? So why are there better deals for “new” customers, and why do I get a better deal when I do this? I guess I just must be lucky?
I am tired of customers thinking the best deals are held back for ANY reason. Here are the facts, a lot of things change what options are available to you. years with company, how much you spend to create revenue for a company, how often you are costing the company for asking for adjustments, etc. Even your province because legally some plans are different in different places. In my opinion, these companies bend over too much and get fucked by customers more than customers get fucked by them. Customers are morons making mistakes not knowing how to use their phones and being like; “Omg your charging me for data I don’t use!” No, you are challenged and should get a flip phone from eBay because you don’t understand the technology you are using. As for cost of devices, you don’t see me being able to go to a dealership and asking for a free car because I leased another one for 5 years now can I? No, because that is ridiculous and phones are the same. I don’t get free groceries but I shop at the same store for 20+ years.
If you are attempting the argument, “People are too stupid to understand that they are getting the best deal already”, you really shouldn’t be in the customer service business.
@me..no I don’t haggle for deals on burritos, but when I pay 80$/month for my mobile phone service and have .dropped calls daily, messages that refuse to send or.be.received, and.little to no reception.. Let alone LTE coverage, I expect a better deal than what I am paying now.
Amen!
Do you guys go to Taco Bell and haggle for burritos? Do you expect that people have to break out a secret book of discounts just because someone has a sense of entitlement so great that they think they should get a better “deal” than the rest of the public who get the same product or service? What you guys don’t realize is that someone who is a bigger whiner than you is probably getting a better “deal”…meanwhile, you’re bottom feeding scum that try to bully everyone for nickels and dimes when you aren’t a top shelf customer to begin with.
I work for one of those companies and thanks for letting me see you scammers for the way you are. It proves to me the calls I take are following a script.
As opposed to the script your employer gives you? Just leveling the field. Charging one person $120 a month for data and such and then charging new customer 1/2 of that, what was your expression? Your employers are “Bottom Feeding”? Yes, consumers should be fighting for the best deal.
See http://consumerist.com/2007/03/05/8-confessions-of-a-former-verizon-sales-rep/ if you want to see why consumers act the way we do.
Keep Repeating step 1 until you find someone that will work with you. There will be 1 person who you will connect with.
I regularly get calls from my phone company wanting to upgrade my service. In some cases that has been good, other times a bad thing. Bad like when I upgraded to a faster service and lost my unlimited download capability. Good when I got a faster modem.
I am about due for a new cell phone, as the three year contract expires at the end of the month, and have been dreading the “fight” of getting what I want for as cheap as possible. I have an Iphone 3G, which I find adequate for some things, but slower than the 98th coming of Christ. I vaguely remember meeting his Mom and Dad back in the day when I got the contract for this phone, it was so long ago. Bloody contracts are horrible, and we are stuck getting screwed over for it with upgrade fees and get out of the contract now fees. Hence not wanting to go through the fight again.
Anyhow, this info will help me get the deal I want.
Thank you and I hope everyone has a great Christmas!
Well, sign NOTHING, until you have read all the fine print is implied in this as well!
I ended up having a problem with Itunes and got so mad I dumped everything. Baby, bathwater, tub, soap, shampoo, and even the stand for the bathtub!
Ended contract after the 3 years, erased what was left after Itunes messed me up, formatted the phone and went as far as getting a new phone number and phone company. I will get a deal next time when I renew my internet stuff. Needless to say I was VERY MIFFED and will never again get a phone that uses Itunes!
I have heard that, my iPhone got wiped the last iOS upgrade, but it didn’t wipe out my phone number at least!
This is going back a while, but I did not lose the phone number I had. I got rid of it. I could never remember the number anyhow. When I ditched Rogers, I tossed everything including going to a completely new phone number, new phone company, new contract, new everything. I went from an Iphone 3g to a Galaxy Note 2. One thing I will say is the operating system is nice, but the interface, (like Itunes for the Iphone), is absolute crap. Kies is what it is called, and for a while had the ability to get and listen to podcasts, (for a while till they took that away), and as soon as I found a new interface called Moborobo, (free) I jumped to it and have used it since. One thing though, the day after I got my case for it I dropped it a good ten feet, and my Otterbox Defender case SAVED my phone. NOT a scratch! Will never have a cell phone without one again!!!
Yeh, I have Otter boxes (plural) for my phones, I tend to carry my phone in my shirt pocket and once a week it falls out, without the protection, I would have been screwed.
I like this but I’m just not sure I could commit to 30-60 mins on the phone with them! There would be a lot of awkward silences and me going “awww ‘cmon…pleaaaaasseee”.
I would add that being ‘nice’ will get you WAY further than being aggressive. When I’m complaining I like using the line “I know it’s not your fault, and I appreciate everything you’re trying to do for me right now, but….” and try and connect personally with the person who is your gateway to getting that deal.
Excellent point, never make the person you are talking to the epicenter of your anger, they have nothing to do with it (most of the time). Sympathize with them, empathize if you can, because if you piss them off, they will do nothing for you (it is only human nature).
Great Post mate as always. I would say I am just as prepared as you draw out here in your post. I always know the info about the account, competitors and what they offered me and stay cool so I can close the deal. If one is a good customer that has paid the bill on time over the long term they are apt to negotiate. That is what I have experienced. Cheers Mr. CBB
Well stated, being a customer in good standing should stand for something, shouldn’t it?
And it’s pretty easy to be that prepared too… you just need to search around the internet for less than 20 minutes to find out what other deals people are getting. RedFlagDeals is a great site for finding out what others have got through retention departments (and how recently)
Agreed, use all these kind of sites as research for the deals you can get.
Yesterday, I had to follow up with the cable company about a discount they gave me, but did not execute it. I routinely call them to get my discounts. It is obvious that most people do not, but they are very willing to satisfy their customers if you call.
Indeed, following up is always important too, if things change for no reason.