[tyingq]

One case where that works against people is sales. For example, we had a sales rep for some software we use that would always show up with gaudy gold rings on almost every finger, an obviously-5-figure watch, high end suit, etc.

It sent a pretty strong signal to us that their margins and commissions had a lot of room to negotiate down. I suspect we negotiated harder with this organization than we would have otherwise, looked for opportunities to reduce usage, and so on. Not solely because of the wealthy display, but I'm sure it played some part.

[listenallyall]

Pretty sure the guy knew exactly what he was doing. First, the fact you were negotiating means he already got over the first step, which is simply to engage in a negotiation at all. Then he set himself up so that your team felt you could push extra-hard, resulting in a discount you all probably high-fived about. So he sets his initial price above his peers and even with your super discount you ended up at the same price as everybody else. Or maybe you did pay less... it's software! Marginal cost = pennies. Cheesy sales guy still made a fat commission.