Can You Negotiate Tile Prices? How To Save On Tiles


Tiling can be expensive and money is tight for a lot of us, so we should try to look to save as much money as we can. However, every business that sells tiles works a little differently, which can cause us to wonder if we can negotiate the price of our tiling project.

You can negotiate about the pricing of the tiling you are wanting to purchase with the sales rep. When negotiating, you need to be well informed on the subject and go in with a plan. Without this, you will have no leverage in your negotiation and the whole ordeal will fall flat.

So, what plan can you make? How will you be able to gain leverage against these people that are selling you tile? Let’s discuss a couple of things that you’ll be able to do, to help you save some money.

Know How To Be Cordial

Manners take you places, and displaying appropriate manners can help whenever you interact with people in a business setting. People, in general, will react more respectfully and will be more willing to communicate with you. Especially those sales reps. They have to deal with all kinds of people every day, and they run into some pretty rude people. So whenever someone is nice to them, it brightens their day and will help you be able to negotiate with them.

Being cordial with the sales rep that you’re negotiating with will create a comfortable environment. In many instances, when a negotiation is occurring, there is a tense environment because of rudeness, or one party does not listen well to the other. With this being said, make sure that you come in with a good attitude, and also knowing that the sales rep has a job to do and that they will be willing to work with you.

Being respectful and cordial to your sales rep will put you in the best situation to get you what you want, for a great price.

Show Off Your Knowledge

Using your knowledge will help you gain the respect of the sales rep. This will keep the sales rep on their toes when you have a specific and detailed plan about what you want to do and the materials you want.

One way you can do this is by figuring out the square footage of the room that you are trying to refurbish. You can start by calculating the surface area of the room that you that will undergo refurbishing. Once you get the surface area of the room, you will then look to see the square footage of the tile that you’re trying to get.

With those two numbers, you’ll be able to see how many tiles you will need. When you’ve figured out how many tiles that you need, put together your total cost of the project. For example, if I needed 100 tiles, and the project was going to cost me $500 dollars, each tile would cost $5 dollars.

With getting this information, you will be able to go to the department store and have leverage on the sales rep because you can get a value of how much each tile should cost. Bring confidence to the negotiation and show them that you know what you’re talking about.

Sales Reps Won’t Turn You Away

With being in sales previously, I know for a fact that no good sales rep will turn away an opportunity to get a sale. That is their whole purpose, to sell to people, so it would be silly if a sales rep would turn away a chance to work with a customer.

Sometimes these sales reps are paid on commission, which will motivate them to make sure the sale happens. Use this to your advantage, even if they aren’t paid on commission, because you don’t know if they are or not. Having the mindset of pushing them in the negotiation will help you see how willing they are to work with you to get that sale.

With this being said, they will try to keep the price high, so that they will be able to make their numbers look good and to get the most money they possibly can. However, if you’re respectful and very knowledgeable of the situation, they will work with you in order to get the sale.

Use Strategy

You have to have a strategy with negotiation. If you don’t, you will likely lose a chance to be able to save some money on the tile. So, go in with a strategy!

I would recommend going into the store and explain your situation in summarized detail. Here is an example, “I’m going to be buying some ceramic tile. I need to get around 100 tiles today and would like your help. I am also in contact with other stores nearby and will be purchasing the tile this afternoon at the lowest price that is given to me.”

Saying this in a respectable, cordial way will help you in the negotiation process. No sales rep wants another rival company to get the sale, especially if they have the opportunity to make it happen right then and there. Using this kind of strategy, or any other that you want to use will bring the sales rep to a state of mind to help you and make sure they get the sale.

Know When To Ask

With everything that has been said so far, this is the most important aspect of negotiating to understand and apply. Let’s just say that you have just gotten to the front of a long line of people to talk about these tiling prices, and there is a long line still behind you. The sales rep will not want to negotiate with you, and just want to get to the other people behind you that might not be looking to negotiate the price.

You should also figure out when the best time would be to come in and negotiate with the sales rep. If their days are usually slow on Tuesday afternoons, then you should probably go in on Tuesday at around 2 o’clock. During this time, they aren’t busy so they have less of an opportunity to get a sale. So, if you come in willing to buy, they will make sure to work with you and get close to that price that you are looking for.

Ricky Kesler

With all of the projects I've done over the years, you'd think that I work on my house full-time. But I actually enjoy other things like spending time outdoors and time with my family.

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