7 Secrets to Getting What You Want from Businesses

We have all been there. A store or business does something you believe is unfair to you. You go to the manager with your story of how they did not treat you fairly. After you've told your account of the incident, the manager says, "I'm sorry, it's our policy and I can't do anything more to help you." Is that infuriating, or what?

Here are seven secrets to getting what you want.

1) If you're in the right, you should never accept no for an answer. However, you need to know when to fight and when to flee. By that I mean this. Let's say a business owes you $15 for a refund they didn't honor or something like that. If you choose to fight and it will take you five hours of your time, you best course of action is to flee. You have to put a value on your time. Whether you think you're worth $10 an hour or $200 an hour, you must establish your value. Five hours to fix a $15 business dispute is not worth the time, so move on.

2) To get what you deserve from a dishonorable business you have to think the same as they do. They don't care if the washing machine they delivered is an off white and you wanted white. They only care about the bottom line. Don't give them some sob story, appeal to their bottom line thinking. Make them a business proposition that will make them money. Explain that you are prepared to tell people how unfair they are and you are also prepared to loudly and publicly protest your unfair treatment and even convince their customers to shop elsewhere by offering them incentives. You must convince them that to ignore you will cost them money.

3) Be willing to play a little like Dirty Harry. Look the business bad guy straight in the eye and tell them that as a concerned citizen you are willing to pass out flyers or money just to make sure no one else shops there and has a bad experience like you. Tell them that you are so upset at their customer service you've written down your horror story and plan on giving it to their competitors and the local newspaper with permission to publicize it.