In this 7‑minute video, entrepreneur Evan Carmichael explains how entrepreneurs can secure better deals with suppliers and other vendors by tailoring their approach to the size of the counterpart and by leveraging factors beyond price. He contrasts negotiating with large companies—where maximizing price discounts is appropriate—with negotiating with small, solo‑entrepreneur suppliers, where preserving the relationship and ensuring the supplier profits is more valuable. He then outlines a repeatable framework for extracting non‑price value: present strong credit/payment history, provide references and proof of being a good tenant/partner, demonstrate care for the property, and offer upfront payment to reduce risk for the other party. He illustrates the framework with a real‑world apartment‑rental negotiation, showing how he reduced rent from $2,600 to $2,450 by sharing his credit score, tenant references, and paying six months in advance. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to comment on their own negotiation experiences.
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How do you negotiate a great deal? This is an important question because as entrepreneurs, we don't have tons of cash flowing out of our wallets, flowing out of our bank accounts. You need to make every dollar stretch, right? You got to make every dollar you spend count, especially in the early days. And part of that comes from negotiating great deals with your suppliers. I got a great question from one of my readers, uh, my Yalovsyf. Who wrote in to say, "Evan, what is your opinion on negotiating with suppliers from anywhere on top of the original offer? Thank you." When I'm negotiating, I always look at the size of the company. If I'm working with a bigger company, I try to negotiate as much as I can. I try to get the best possible price because at the end of the day, they won't care so much about me. But when I'm working with a smaller company, if it's a solo entrepreneur or a really small outfit, I tend not to negotiate too much. Because I want to be important to their business. And I know, and you should know, how important every dollar is to your company. Do you like the clients who negotiate you down to your absolute lowest profit margin? Do you like those clients? Probably not. So why would you be that client to other people? I like my suppliers, especially the small ones, to care about me. I want to be one of their favorite customers, and to do that you have to pay them so that they're going to make a profit off of you. That's part of business. I'm not gonna overpay. I don't want you ripping me off. But I wanna make sure that you are profitable from working with me. Now if you're a bigger company, again, I'm gonna take you for as much as you can. Here's a quick example. A big company came to me and they wanted to do an event with me. So I have my regular rate. Typically for an event, depending on what it is, I'll charge you between $1,500 and $2,500 bucks. And When it came down to creating the budget, they said, "You gotta talk to this guy who helped bring it on." And I spoke with him, and he's his own business. He's a small entrepreneur, he's a solo guy. And I told him on the phone, "Listen, you know what, I usually charge $1,500 to $2,500 for this, but I understand that this is now coming out of your pocket. This isn't coming out of the big company's pocket, it's coming out of your pocket. I'm gonna build a relationship with you, and I'm gonna do it for you for free." No, I get some exposure from it, from being part of it, and maybe we can build a long-term relationship together that might work with that bigger company, but I don't want to take that kind of money out of an entrepreneur's pocket. Doesn't feel right to me. If it's a big company, I have no problem doing it, but a small entrepreneur, solo guy trying to make his mark, I don't want to be pulling out of his pocket. So I made it free for him. I could have been a cheaper price. I was feeling generous, whatever. It's my typical style, and it's something I would encourage you to embrace. For the smaller entrepreneurs, just think about their situation. Think about where you're coming from. Think about the clients who try to nickel and dime you all the way and how you don't like working with those guys. So don't be that client to other people. Now, assuming you're working with somebody bigger than, you know, the little tiny entrepreneur, how do you get the best deal possible? The key to negotiating is thinking about everything that's important to that person besides price. Okay, price is always going to matter. Everybody cares about price no matter what it is that you're selling. It's always a factor. But there are always other things that people care about besides price as well. You just have to find out what those things are and play up to them so people would be willing to give you a lower price because you're so good on all the other factors. Here's a quick example. I'm, uh, I'm renting an apartment. I just closed yesterday. So I'm just signing the checks today. And the place that I liked is $2,600— was listed for $2,600 a month. In that building, other places were going for $2,700, $2,800 a month. So $2,600 sounds like a good deal, right? I wanted a better deal. I like getting the deal. So I wanted to figure out a better way to do it. If you look at what does a landlord care about besides money? That's an opportunity to be able to negotiate a better deal. So I managed to get the deal for $2,450, much lower than the $2,600 that they were asking and much lower than everything else is going in the building. How did I do it? Here's a few things. Number 1, think about the landlords. They want somebody who's gonna pay, right? A bad tenant, somebody who doesn't pay, is gonna be a nightmare for them. They'd rather have somebody pay less who will pay on time every month than somebody who doesn't pay up. So I gave them my credit score. My credit score is amazing. It's off the charts. It's almost as high as you can be. And so that plays in my favor when going after this kind of deal, right? I don't take on debt. When I do, I pay it off really quickly. And so I make for a great potential tenant. So I shared the full report with them. You could see everything, my entire history, to see that I pay on time. The second thing is I showed that I'm a really good tenant. I showed my office. So I've owned my own office place in a building for maybe 6 years, and I've taken care of it, and I have great neighbors, and everybody likes having me in the building. And I talked about that. I talked about, hey, I've had my own place right down the street for 6 years. I love being a good neighbor. I take care of the common elements. And I gave the phone number and name of my next-door neighbor as a reference. So you can call her up, like, "She's known me for 6 years, she can talk about me being a good neighbor." And again, this is something that landlords care about. They don't want somebody coming in who's going to be a bad neighbor and cause problems for them. This is supposed to be a hands-off, passive income thing for them. They don't want problems. So show you're not going to create problems. I talked about my house that I used to have, how I built it up, how I sold it, how I love modern design, how I had video companies come in, movie companies come in, photographers come in and shoot the place. It was featured in magazines. Commercials, movies, and I talked about how I look after my place, right? I keep it in great condition, I looked after everything in the place, and I will treat your place like it was my own as well. And again, another big concern that landlords care about. Finally, on the money side, I offered instead of first and last month's rent, I offered 6 months' rent in advance. So I'm paying less, but I'm paying more upfront. Had the cash on hand, so I decided to go for it. And again, it makes it an easier decision for the landlord. So I got a great price, better than anything else in the building, but I paid more upfront. I showed that I have a great credit score, I'm going to pay. I showed that I'm a great neighbor, and I showed that I care about the place that I live in and I'm going to take care of it. So these are all things that they're going to care about beyond just the price. So think about any deal you're negotiating with any supplier. And think about everything that they care about beyond just the price. Whatever can work in your favor to show how great a potential customer you can be for them so that they'll be willing to give you a discounted price. If you do it, it's a great way to build an amazing relationship with your suppliers and also save you a lot of money. Believe. For those of you watching, like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. It always makes me want to do more for you, and I'd love to hear what you have to think. How do you negotiate with your Suppliers, leave a comment below, let me know. And if you have a question, leave in the comment section below, I'll make a video response. Thank you so much, and I'll see you soon.
