The Story Behind the Cheese Balls

I sent out my first piece of direct mail this week. I decided that a good portion of it should be the postal mail equivalent of an introduction, much like I was meeting someone for the first time. It has a brief bio of me and has photos of my family on a hayride, some of me with my siblings, and a couple of photos of my wife, Michelle, and myself.

Except one of the photos had an issue. The printer called me as they were just beginning the press run and said that the nice portrait of me and my pregnant wife taken on a beautiful Fall day in front of our house had been “digitally mangled” somehow. The printer asked, “Did I have another I could quickly send them?”

“Yes,” I said. I searched my hard drive and found an alternative. It’s of both of us sitting inside a car dealership holding a bag of cheese balls. “It’ll have to do,” I thought, and sent it to the printer.

Now, when one gets a piece of mail from a political candidate, one wouldn’t normally expect to see him holding any kind of snack food. So here’s the story behind this unusual photo:

My wife and I were buying a car. I’ve taken courses in negotiation and I decided to exercise my skills to see what kind of deal I could arrange. I first argued on price and saw some results until the price became the lowest it could go. Then I tried to get “extras” thrown in — a nicer radio, maybe tires, or an extended warranty. I think the salesman caved on one or two things, but not much.

It looked like we’d reached the end of the negotiation, but I wanted one more thing and that’s when I spied a bag of cheese balls sitting behind his desk.

“Sir, you have a deal if you throw in that bag you have over there,” I said. He looked shocked, then smiled hugely. “Really? Well… done!” he said.

That’s the story of how I got a free bag of cheese balls with a several thousand dollar purchase. They were great.

And I hope to use those same tenacious negotiation skills to get the best possible deals for the people in my district of Olathe, Kansas.