Nigerian artisans

By Ibrahim El-Caleel

I have noticed one thing with artisans. A good number of them hate it when you ask them about their charges before commencing work on your item, be it electrical faults, plumbing issues or any other tasks. The prefer completing the job before telling you the price.

The underlying psychology here is for them to gain leverage in negotiation. By completing the task first, they position themselves in a stronger bargaining position. They will always argue that they have already done the job and they have really suffered to do so. This leaves you at their mercy, with some even framing their service to you as a massive favour.

However it goes, they will win. If you don’t pay as much as they want to charge you, then they will leave you with a guilt feeling about shortchanging them. An empathetic person will be prompted to add more money “just to clear his or her conscience”.

This is their psychology.

However, it is all your fault. No work should begin without a clear, mutually-agreed labour cost. It is akin to an employee signing an offer letter without a specified salary. Imagine starting a job as a Medical Doctor and your offer letter simply says, “we will pay you a monthly salary by 30th of every month.” No specified figure. What if at the end of the month the hospital pays you a salary of ₦17,500 while you were expecting ₦250,000? It’s absurd.

This is why both parties should agree on very clear terms before any work begins. If you meet your mechanic in his workshop, ask him how much he will fix your car’s Stabilizer & Ball Joints. Don’t agree with his vague assurances that, “No na Oga.. we are together”. Insist on knowing his charges upfront before the work begins.

Interestingly, this reminds me of an incident with Dr Sakynah some years back. After completing her shopping at the market, she hired a wheelbarrow boy to transport her goods and he brought them. When she asked him about his charging fee? He declined mentioning a figure, but told her “ko nawa ne ki bada; Allah Ya sa musu albarka”. Meaning, “just pay any amount of money; may God bless it”. She obliged and paid him ₦20, and that’s when he began murmuring.

“What happened again?”, she asked him.

“Haba. Ai ke ma kin san ya fi haka!” (Haba. You also know that this work deserves more than what you just paid), he replied.

She asked, ‘were you not the who said I could pay anything and may God bless it?’ So she asked him again, “how much is your money?”

Without any hesitation, he replied, “₦50!” And she now gave him his money. She could have paid him N200, and the guy would be happy that the strategy is working.

This is also another strategy artisans use to charge you more than what is their actual pay. They will tell you to simply pay any amount, no problem. I don’t know why any merchant would do this. Is it possible for me to go to a kiosk and pick a large loaf of bread, and then the kiosk owner will tell me to pay any amount? It’s impossible. So why do artisans issue labour with a blank price tag?

But then it is a strategy for price discrimination. You sell the same goods or service at different prices to different consumers. A seller is happy to do this, but a buyer feels uncomfortable. Some buyers even feel like they were swindled. This is the same strategy the e-CEOs of “DM for pricing” are using. They lure you to inbox, and sell a ₦2,000 kitchen utensil to you at ₦5,000; then lure your friend to inbox and sell the same product at ₦2,400.

As a buyer, you must be smart. Most sellers are already very smart. If you are not smart as a customer, they will maximize their profit out of your meager earnings. This is why they get richer annually while you either stay flat or decline. Sapa wan finish you.

Commercial Lawyers would say, “Caveat Emptor“, or “Let the Buyer Beware.”