Your Negotiation Plan

The cooling-off wait tells you whether to buy. These three numbers, set before you shop, tell you how to buy well.

• Fair price — what independent research says the item should cost, not the tag.
• Must-have features — the short list you actually need, so add-ons cannot pad the bill.
• Walk-away number — the figure past which you leave, no matter how good the pitch.

Walk in with those decided and you negotiate from facts, not from the story the seller is telling.