Never under estimate the power of silence. People don't use it enough when negotiating with dealers/salesmen. Be sitting across his desk with papers ready, tell him you'll give him $x for the bike. He'll buck at it. Don't say another word unless he asks you a question. Look at the papers. Look at him. Look out the door at the bike. Look at the papers. Look back at the bike. Wait until he speaks again. He will lower his price. If he doesn't lower it to $x that you wanted, keep silent. If a minute goes by and he still hasn't said anything. Simply reitorate yourself.
"I'll give you $x for the bike."
Don't say, "I can only give you..." or "I can only afford..." or anything else than what you're WILLING to give them. Silence is a powerful tool with a salesman. They don't like it. Instinctively they'll worry you're having too much time to think about backing out...and will sweeten the deal before you say, "Nah, I changed my mind." and walk out. If the silence won't force their card, you have to be prepared to say, "I'll give you $x, final offer." and if they don't agree....
You need to immediately stand up from the table, extend your hand and say, "Ok, thanks for your time." You should note an instant look of dismay on their face. They won't shake your hand. They'll say something like, "Well, hey...hey, hold on a second. Let me see what I can do. Let me talk to my boss...", etc. etc. It will happen. Trust me on this. It's a gambling move. You can't bluff. You have to be prepared to walk away from the deal. You'll lose all bargining power if you don't. Keep in mind, there is always another dealer a hundred or so miles away...most likely. Or, you can always come back in a few days. The salesman may have reconsidered.
On my '03 F4i I bought last spring I had to do something very similar. In the end I still I had to stand up, reach out my hand, and indicate I was walking out the door. I just arrived there a little differently.
I sat down and I clearly indicated to the salesment I had no love of this process, no love of "dealing" with prices, barganing etc. I was a busy man and the last thing I wanted to do is sit in a dealership for an hour haggling on dollars. That being said, I told him I wanted to cut to the chase and have him give me his best deal he could make. I told him I only wanted one price. Don't shoot high, hoping I'll accept, give me the aboslutely lowest price he was willing to go. I told him if it was low enough, we'd have a deal.
He shot me a price that was obviously high with room to negoatate. He obviously didn't listen to me. I wrinkled my brow, smirked and shaked my head and said, "Uh, that's not even close to reasonable." Stood up, extended my hand.... He seemed very miffed, concerned. Said it was obvious the two of us had different figures in mind and he said, "I'll tell you what. Why don't you write down a number on a sheet of paper. I'll write down a number... and we'll reveal them at the same time and if we can meet on a price, great."
I said, "No, I don't think so. Write down the lowest price you're willing to go. Show it to me. If I like the number, we'll have a deal, if not, I'll go somewhere else."
He had a very "Ok...ok...ok..." attitude. Wrote down a number that was a little lower than his first, but still not acceptable. When he showed it to me I looked very angry. How is this possible?
"What?", he said.
I responded with, "I told you I didn't want to dick around with price negotiations and that I wanted your absolute bottom line right off the bat." I asked how it was possible he could lower his number if his FIRST number was supposed to be his lowest. I told him I didin't appreciate him wasting my time. I reminded him I had already told him I wouldn't spend my afternoon arguing price. I told him it was still an insulting figure and stood up again, extended my hand...
He was a little more upset this time. Still didn't shake my hand and told me to "Hold on" again and still wanted to deal. I kept my hand extended and told him he had wasted enough of my time and to either take my hand and extend me the common courtesy or I would just walk and forgo the pleasantry. It was then he asked what I had in mind for a price. He said he would "see what he could do."
I sat down. Placed an aggitated look on my face. Took a breath. Paused for effect. Threw out my price. (which, was reasonable on all accounts) He said, "Ok." - that he'd be right back, and walked out of his office.
Came back in about 3 minutes with a question. Some of you may have heard this question before:
"If we offer at this price, would you sign an agreement stating that you would indeed purchase at this price"?
If you're not familiar, it's a question dealers ask to make sure you accept what they offer and YOU won't want to negotiate further. And, a question that confirms that if they offer...you're buying. Today. They don't want you to say, "Ok, if you'll go THAT low...how about THIS?!?" ...and lower your deal.
I said yes. He slid the paper with the number and the other papers for me to sign. I signed. And, I got the bike I wanted at exactly the price I wanted.
The art of silent negotiation. Google for it. Study it. It will work for you.