I used to sell U.S. consumer goods to South America. Many of my clients were Syrian, Lebanese, and Iraqi migrants.
We kept what I called the "towel head" price list, twice list price , with the aim to settle on original list. It'd usually take two bottles of Johnny Black to get there (yes, my dear Muslim clients always had the best booze).
Now, the strategy wasn't contained to just them. For our Jewish clients, we had another list, called the... erh, well, we won't got there... anyway, it, too, started a bit higher from list. The difference was that it was presented as half-again as high, but with a 2-for-1 deal.
Our native's list price was always list. They we'd add 10, 20, 30 per cent on terms. They'd take anything at any price on credit.
And yes, I've heard plenty of stories about poor mothers and invalid sisters. This from mult-million dollar retailers. It was all so bloody silly.
The most difficult clients were the occasional Euros or Americans we encountered. They'd actually negotiate on reason and markets, not emotion. What a pain.
Oh, one other thing. My on-site partner was Syrian descent. He was the best salesmen I have ever known.
Listen to what he says, and watch what he does. Listen to what the Arabs say and what they do. Yes, you can believe in your President.
I remember one of them sold an old fire engine once. The customer had given them his best offer, so the owner agreed, but insisted that he got to keep the siren and then had me go remove it. When I asked him why he wanted an old siren he told me that he didn't, but he just didn't want to sell the whole truck at that price. So far as I know that siren was tucked away on a shelf and never seen again. That was just the attitude they had towards the whole world. They weren't really happy unless they had given someone the shaft and the idea that someone might have ripped them off really burned them up inside.
Remember the beard salesman (played by Eric Idle) in Life of Brian?
No, no. Not like 'at. You've got to 'aggle!