Haggling, Stalling, and the Guy Who Says You're Scamming Him

The objections that show up at the moment of the close are a short list, and each one has a short answer. The haggler gets the same price said again, warmly. The staller gets a clock. The man who says the room is a scam gets one honest sentence and then your back, because a customer who has decided you are cheating him will not be argued out of it and will not pay well if he is. A sales curriculum for dancers catalogs the close objections almost exactly as vets describe them from the floor, and the rule for all of them is the same as for the floor objections in /advice/objection-handling-the-eleven-nos: one reply, then accept the answer.

The close objections, one by one

"Too expensive"

Agree and step down a rung, never down a price. "Totally, the room's a lot. Let's do a dance now and you can decide about the back later." You have still made a sale, you have kept your number intact, and the room is still on the table for the second pass. The thing you never do is defend the price or explain it, because an explanation sounds like the opening of a negotiation. /advice/pricing-without-flinching has the reasons a discount costs you four times.

If he says it with a laugh and keeps sitting, he is testing. If he says it and reaches for his jacket, he is leaving, and you let him.

The over-negotiator

Some men haggle for sport. "Two dances for sixty." "Throw in an extra song." "The girl before you did it for thirty." Each one gets the price, said again, in the same tone, with a smile. "It's forty." "It's forty." "Then she undersold herself. It's forty." The third repetition usually ends it; he was seeing if the number moved, and it did not. If he keeps going past three, he is not buying, he is playing, and the game costs you minutes. "I'll let you think about it" and stand.

Never match a price he claims another dancer gave him. Dancers with decades in the job describe the collapse that follows when one dancer undercuts the minimum and every customer after her uses it as leverage. Whether his claim is true or not, your answer is your number.

The procrastinator

"Let me finish this drink." "After the next song." "Let me see what my buddy's doing." He is enjoying your company and avoiding the decision, and every minute you wait is unpaid. Give him a clock and a choice. "Sure. I'm on stage after this song, so it's now or it's after my set. Which?" Most procrastinators pick one when the choice is made concrete. The one who picks "after your set" gets a real return (/advice/maybe-later-and-the-second-pass); the one who picks neither has told you, and you stand.

The time-waster

Different from the procrastinator: he is not avoiding the decision, he has made it, and it is no, and he would like to keep talking anyway. You usually spot him by the third song. He asks about you, he is charming, he never once touches money. The reply is the rate. "I'd love to keep talking. Let's do it in the back." If he will not take his own conversation into the room, the conversation ends with a warm exit. /advice/the-guy-who-says-hell-take-care-of-you is the long version.

"What happens in the back?"

Answer with what the room is, once. "It's private, it's just the two of us, you get my full attention for the whole half hour, and the rules are the club's rules." If he asks again with a different word, he is shopping for something you do not sell. Say so without drama: "That's not what happens here. If that's what you're after, I'm not the one for you." Then leave, and mention him to the floor staff if he pushed hard; a man who asks three dancers the same question is a man the bouncer wants to know about. Dancers who have written about the room are clear that no promise is ever made in it; /advice/extras-the-real-cost has the reasons.

"I don't go to VIP"

A frame objection, like "I don't get dances." One reframe. "Then you've never been with the right person. One half hour, and if you're not glad you did, you can tell me." If he holds the line, he is a dance customer, and you sell him dances. Some of the best dance regulars are men who never once go to the back and buy five dances every visit; the rule is to sell what he is buying and plant the room for next time.

"I don't have to pay for it" and "I respect you too much"

Two faces of the same objection: he wants you to be something other than a dancer at work. "I don't have to pay for it" means he thinks he can get your attention free, with charm or by implying he gets women outside. "I respect you too much" means he wants credit for not buying. Both get the same reply, light and final: "Everyone pays here. That's what makes it fair." Smile, stand, go. There is no sale in either, and both men are more pleasant to leave than to convince.

"Come back to my hotel"

A hard no, every time, and a flag. Dancers on the record decline outside meetings as a rule, and the safety material is unanimous that the customer who wants you somewhere other than the club is the customer to walk from. "I work here. If you want to see me, you know where I am." If he persists, that is the end of the conversation, and the floor staff should hear about it. /advice/the-regular-who-wants-more covers the slower version of the same push from a man you already know.

What do I say when he says the room is a scam?

One honest sentence and then let him go. "It's three hundred for thirty minutes in a private room with me, the club keeps its share and I keep mine, and nobody's hiding anything. It's not for everyone." Then stand. A man who says scam is often one who has been to a club where the room was a bad experience, and a man who says scam is sometimes one who is setting up to not pay. Either way, arguing it makes you look defensive and does not change his mind, and a customer who goes into the room believing he is being cheated is the customer who argues at the door, complains to management, or disputes the card charge after. Dancer-safety guidance on getting paid before you dance exists partly for this man. You are better off with the next table.

How many times should I answer an objection?

Every objection above gets one reply. Two if the first produced a real reason. Never three. A sales curriculum will give you an answer for every line a customer can say, and that is useful, but the vets' correction is that the answer is for the man who is on the fence, not for the man who has decided. Pressure past the second reply does not make the sale; it makes a customer who tells the dressing room you are pushy and does not come back. A dancer who kept careful notes on customer behavior names pressure-selling as the thing that stops a return visit faster than anything else. Reply once, warmly, and let the odds game (/advice/the-odds-game) do the rest.

Do this tonight

• Answer "too expensive" by stepping down a rung, never down a price.
• Repeat your number three times to a haggler in the same tone, then stand.
• Give every staller a clock and a choice of two times.
• Answer "what happens in the back" once with what the room is, and walk if he asks twice.
• Leave the man who says scam with one honest sentence and go to the next table.