Knowledge is power

I like the TV programme where antique experts go on a road trip in a vintage car. They start off with a wad of cash and along the way they stop at antique shops and hunt out bargains. Their booty is sold at various auctions and the winner is the one with the biggest profit made on the trip. All proceeds to charity of course.

I really enjoy this, partly for adding to my limited knowledge of antiques, partly for the banter and mainly for the haggling. Yes, the haggling.

That, for me, is the essence of the show. Can the expert find a treasure and negotiate a price with the shop owner which leaves them with a healthy profit and the shop owner satisfied?

After watching a ridiculous number of episodes (I’m on repeats of repeats of repeats now) I’ve reached the conclusion that there are two main types of antique expert. 

There are the ones who have an uncanny knack for sniffing out the genuine treasures and noting with glee that they are under-priced. The shop owner has not realised they have a hidden gem in their cabinet and left it jumbled together with sundry bric a brac.

Then there are the less observant, or perhaps less able experts. They mooch around the shop for a good while and eventually settle on something shiny which catches their eye. Inevitably these items are fairly-priced, which makes turning a profit a little more challenging.

Then the negotiation starts.

Our savvy expert knows he has a bargain on his hands. He shares his thoughts with the camera and goes off to find the shop owner. Negotiation is simple and quick. ‘Is this the owner’s best price?’ or, ‘Can they knock a couple of quid off’ The deal is done and both the expert and the owner are happy. Both have achieved good value. The owner has achieved their target price (or thereabouts). The expert has achieved outstanding value - a result of their knowledge, acquired from years of obsession, research and experience.

Our less savvy expert takes his shiny object to discuss with the owner. He looks for flaws, “There’s a bit of a crack here’, ‘Did you pick this up for a song in a house clearance’ or, ‘Is this one you’ve had for a while’. He makes a ridiculously low offer. The owner is clearly not happy and is reluctant to drop. They eventually reach a grudging compromise. The owner’s body language shows disappointment. They accepted a lower price than they wanted to and have barely covered their costs. The expert has the chance of a small margin if all goes well at the auction. If not, they'll make a loss. It’s a functional and unsatisfactory deal with neither party terribly happy with the outcome.

My take-out from this is that the expert with the knowledge is the big winner in the profit stakes. Haggling skills alone are unlikely to result in a great outcome.

I think this has relevance beyond the world of antiques. 

Knowledge has value, particularly in professional service businesses.

If businesses can find ways of applying their knowledge to address customers’ needs and wants, at the right price, there lies the potential for healthy profits and satisfied customers.

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