Skip to main content

Why you should never feel bad cancelling your gym membership


On the weekend I  had a conversation with a friend who told me that she felt really bad that she had quit her gym membership.
I thought she felt bad because she realised that she never goes and all the good intentions did not work out.
However that was not the case. She has not been to the gym for the last 4 months but had continued to pay 60$ per week.  She knew that she won't go back and that she needed to cancel her membership.
She felt bad telling the owner of the gym that she wants to cancel her membership as she felt that she was taking money from them.
That is an interesting way of looking at it; she has never considered the other side, the gym owner.

I am looking at it from the other side, they should feel bad as they have not contacted her during the four months asking her and motivating her to come back. All they were interested in was her money nothing else.

She clearly showed the gym owner how bad she felt that she had to cancel her membership. I then asked her, if the owner would have said that she needed to give 1 months notice, would she have paid an extra month? Her answer was 'yes'.

What do we learn from this:

Never ever feel bad asking for something and if you do never show it.

Always look at the situation from the perspective of the other party not just yours.

The other party does not care that much about you as you might think.

It is all in your own head.


www.octalonegotiation.com
#negotiation #negotiationtraining

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is Black Friday and why it is not worth it if you are a great negotiator.

All last week was hyped up by ‘Black Friday’ Sales. But what is it and why do we have it in Australia and is it worth it? Black Friday originates from the US and is the Friday after Thanksgiving which is the fourth Friday in November. Thanksgiving is a public holiday in the US. In the 1950s people used the Friday as a sick day and went shopping to get a head start in their Christmas shopping. Eventually in the 1960s this day turned into another paid leave day or shall we say into a paid ‘shopping day’. It has become a made-up event to drive consumerism. Many believe the term ‘Black Friday’ is used for profit making; black numbers in the ledger books; but that is not entirely correct. While this is the meaning today it meant something totally different in the 50s and 60s.  According to Bonnie Taylor Blake, a researcher at the University of North California, the term originated in Philadelphia by the Philadelphia police as they saw the day as a terrible day. The city was...
2 comments
Read more

Top 5 negotiation tactics that are used by buyers

When a buyer and a seller negotiate over a deal it is in the interest of each party to get the best deal possible. Here are the four most common tactics buyers use in a negotiation in order to get to the best deal possible. The Russian Front This is a tactic whereby the buyer presents the seller with only two options.   One is so terrible; it feels like being sent to the Russian Front which makes you agree to the other options. Compared to the first option the second option does not look that bad now. Don’t make the other party put you under pressure, don’t accept either option. Ask for an alternative or come up with a counter proposal. Good guy bad guy In this tactic you have one person making very high demands. This person is also often cold an unapproachable. The aim is to intimidate the selling party. The good guy on the other hand has a more reasonable approach and shows a willingness to concede and come to a deal. The purpose of this tactic is to set the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Negotiate with compassion in times of COVID 19.We are all in this together.

We live in strange times and our lives have been turned upside down. We need to adjust to new social norms, social distancing. We feel that our freedom has been taken away. We can’t travel, can’t meet with friends and family we can’t even just go to the supermarket and buy staples like flour, toilet paper or canned tomatoes. The way we work has changed; the way we interact with each other has changed.  The way we negotiate should also change in these strange and challenging times. While we negotiate to get the best deal possible and don’t want to leave money on the table; this does not necessarily apply in these circumstances where we are all affected in some way or another. What is important now is that we work together, find solutions together and help each other out. I have seen many acts of kindness lately. It’s these times that bring us together. The same goes when you negotiate. These are extraordinary circumstances, and people still need to make deals but it is ...
Post a Comment
Read more