Auto walas - Chennai

I have earlier written some tactics and counter-tactics for negotiation with auto walas in Bangalore. In Chennai, the situation is completely different. It is very tough as there is no auto rickshaw meter concept. In Chennai, 'positional negotiation' is the trademark of auto walas and they will say some rough values irrespective of the distance. We will be able to negotiate only if we know the actual distance or have an idea about the area.

The best tactic is - 'Walk Away' philosophy if you find it to be an unresanoble amount. Do not stand and get into negotiation. Do not haste as there are many autos .

If you are boarding from Chennai railway station or Koyambedu bus stand, there is a 'prepaid auto rickshaw counter' that provides the best deal.

I got one prepaid autorickshaw fare pdf from 'The Hindu' newspaper that gives you info about the fares related to Chennai Central Railway station. Refer to http://www.hindu.com/nic/centralprepaidauto.pdf

The same pdf can also be correlated with a small chennai map along with some area knowledge to get an overall idea about the possible fare between the two places, so that it would be handy during negotiation.

Auto walas - Bangalore

Auto rickshaw business is an excellent business , but the person has to really toil in the roads & dust. With good negotiation tactics, they can triple their income. Here, i am sharing some of the good counter-tactics for those negotiation tactics that will give you a complete win solution or a win-win solution.

Before going ahead, i would like to clarify certain terms that i would be using in this post :-
'Auto rickshaw' is also termed as 'Auto'.
'Auto wala' is a term from Hindi language for representing the driver of the auto.

In the past few weeks, i have been commuting by auto whenever possible to save time. I know the exact distance between Koramangala & ITPL and hence the cost. But sometimes, i found that the meter showed an extra amount of 25 rupees. Initially i did not mind about it, later thought of applying some negotiation tactics in those scenarios to enhance my negotiation skills . Lets see some of the scenarios.

1. While getting down, if the amount is extra(Consider here, the extra amount is 25 rupees), i would say 'Yaar, yeh tho bahud thez cheltha hei, actually 6o or 65 hoga'. Then, he will put down his head as it is the true fact or will say some traffic reason etc.., but finally he would refund atleast the 15 rupees. So, by just telling that the meter is running fast without arguing or negotiating in a high tone , i was able to win 15 rupees back. If you are arguing and getting down in the middle, he is sure to make some noise. To avoid chaos, be patient till you reach the destination and tell the fact in a soft manner. Do not talk much or drag him into negotiation/micro stuffs. It should surely help.

2.Some auto wala's will blindly say some amount. I ensured that i follow the 'Walk Away' principle immediately without further negotiation. They will finally come running behind to our expectation of driving with meter enabled. By this method, i need not put efforts for oral negotiation.

3.Some auto wala's follow the method of getting us into the auto with a wide smile and later while dropping they will not give back 25 rupees stating that he has only 100 rupee notes and does not have lower currency notes/coins. So, i ensure that i have some coins/change before boarding the auto.

4. Some auto wala's realize our intention by checking our sharp eyes on the meter while driving. They will give back the extra money even before we negotiate for it. I used to feel pity and get back only half/quarter of the money from them. But, later i realized that as one of the tactics they follow to win our sympathy and thereby they avoid the negotiation and use us by overriding our consciousness to give them the extra money which we initially hesitated while seeing the fast running meter. So, nowadays i dont fall into that trap :-)

5. Few guys follow the tactics of getting us into the auto and in the middle of the path to the destination, they may halt at a signal and grudge/cribb regarding the traffic and the loss due to it and raise the amount instantly. The best way to deal this situation is to ask the autowala to wait until the traffic clears and to see if it is really so drastic that he is unable to proceed ahead for more than 20 minutes. Few of the new travellers might not be able to judge the situation (It may be the usual traffic in that route) and they may give up to the autowala by accepting his deal. But, after reading this , you should never allow an autowala to exploit you unnecessarily.

General comment - Always, ensure that the auto has the digital meter because the probability of tampered digital meter is very very less.

Itz always an interesting ride in an auto !!

Good signs

Tata Capital started it and now L&T Finance is also in the pool . These are some Good signs that the market is recovering and the economy is becoming stable. IMF's announcement of 'World recovering from economic crisis' has given ray of hope to many share holders. Soon, there will be lot of IPOs from many companies who have withheld it considering the economic downturn. I think this is the right time to invest in stock and i find IT people onceagain starting to talk about the stock market in the corridors after a long time. Hope it lives up to everyone's expectations !

Man has succeeded in conquering the Moon, flying faster than a bird, communicate from one to other end of earth at the speed of light. But , what about the stock market that was created by him. Finding a formula for Stock market fluctuations will be one of the greatest formula found by the human race ! But, will man find a perfect formula for it ?

Financial Intelligence

I got Robert Kiyosaki's book titled "Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!" . The book gives insight into Financial Intelligence & Financial Freedom. The author explains the need for making the 'Money To Work For Us' and 'Not To Work For Money'. He compares the thoughts & actions of the Low/Middle Class People with the Rich People to convey the methodologies to get rich. He narrates by using a Rich Dad who creates money and Poor Dad who works for money. One dad struggled to save even little amount of money . The other simply created investments.

But, i do not agree that all rich dads and poor dads are as portrayed by the author. Only, poor people can become rich . So, only if the poor dad has the quality of the rich dad as portrayed by the author, they can become rich. Rich people can become More richer only. A rich dad with the quality of the rich dad as portrayed by the author can make them More richer only :-)

He correlates the life to a 'Rat Race' made of 3 points that gets looped in life -
1. Fear - This is present initially for survival & that will drive ones earning requirement,
2. Greed - The later desire to get many nice things & greed drives the earning requirement.
3. Earn more - Pay more Bills . To pay more, earn more.
The only way to get out of this Rat Race is by using the Accounting & Investing.

I agree that switching to a big pay job and earning More Money cannot solve problems, Given more money, one will enhance his lifestyle & increase his needs & pay more bills & might also get into debt. Thus enters into Rat Race.

He stresses the need for 'Financial Intelligence' by having a complete understanding over the Income Statement, Asset Cash Flow Statement & Balance Sheet.

He says that we should never be arrested by Money such that we need to surely work to lead our life & we should avoid a situation of working at a job just because of fear for paying bills.
He states that we should have automatic Cash Flow From Asset -
1.A business owner who has a system in place can leave the business to a manager and still earn income.
2.A web site owner can stop working on the site and still earn income (e.g. from “automatic” advertisements like Google AdSense).
3. A book writer can stop writing and still earn royalties from the books she has written.

His examples for teaching the difference between 'Real Asset' and 'Liabilities' are good.
Asset - Automatic money/income generators
Liability - Home for middle class. It is not a asset if on loan. Car is never an asset.

Real Asset - Patents ,Investments (MFs, other bonds ..), Others work for you and you need not spend time to get the money (Amway / Quixtar), Mutual fund, Stock Business tools or equipment, Real estate (from which you earn rental income), Education

His concept of stock value getting increased whenever a company downsizes its resources appears strange to me though he substantiates stating that people like company that has low labor costs.

He also stresses the needs to achieve 'Financial Freedom' by asking the below questions -
Ask yourself - 1.For whom are you working for ? 2.Whom are you making rich ?
He tells us to have our own second level job along with the mainline job. His idea to join MLM to get trained in Marketing/Sales to get over fear of failure is interesting.

He also cautions by saying 'Mind your own Business' (continue with your wages based job and save to the maximum) and not to jump into business unless you are completely aware/convinced about it.

His 10 steps for awakening the financial genius are excellent.

I think, he can give more indepth information for Financial Freedom/Intelligence.

This book is simple & excellent ! The info conveyed are very practical and useful . I recommend it for everyone.