What to tell a customer before he agrees to a qist plan

Say six numbers out loud before he agrees: the cash price, the profit you are adding once, the plan price, the down payment, each payment amount, and the date each one falls due. Write them on one page, both sign it, and he keeps a copy. Five minutes here saves ten months of doubt.

The five minutes that decide the next ten months

Most qist plans that go wrong did not go wrong in month seven. They went wrong in the four minutes at the counter when the plan was agreed, and nobody noticed for half a year.

The scene is always similar. A customer has decided on something big. He is pleased, you are pleased, and neither of you wants to slow down a happy moment with paperwork. You name a monthly figure, he says he can manage that, and the item goes home with him. The numbers that were never said out loud are the total, the profit you added, and the exact dates.

Then month four arrives. He has paid three times, and one evening he multiplies the monthly amount by the number of months, and the answer is more than the price he saw on the box. Nothing dishonest has happened, but he did not know, and now he feels he has found something out rather than been told it.

From that evening the plan is different. He pays late, he pays reluctantly, he mentions it to people, and the last three payments are a slow argument. You will still get your money, most likely, but you have lost the customer and the plan that was supposed to bring him back.

All of that is prevented by five minutes of saying numbers out loud. It is the cheapest protection in the whole of qist selling, and it is skipped constantly because it feels awkward.

The six numbers he must hear

A customer agreeing to a plan is agreeing to six things, and he can only agree to what he has heard.

The cash price. What the item costs today if he simply pays and walks out. Say it, even though he can see it, because it is the anchor for everything else.

Your profit, added once. The amount you are adding for letting him pay over time. This is a one-time amount, set by you on the day the plan is made, and it does not grow afterwards for any reason.

The plan price. The two added together. This is the number he will actually pay, and it is the one that surprises people in month four.

The down payment. What he pays today, before the item leaves the shop. Whether there should be one at all, and how big, is worked through in taking an advance before you order.

The amount of each payment. The number he already thinks he knows, which is fine, but say it in the same breath as the total so the two sit together in his head.

The date each payment is due. Not "monthly". A day of the month, said and written, because "monthly" turns into "whenever I come by" within two months.

Say the item is Rs 30,000 cash over ten months

Say the item is Rs 30,000 cash and the plan runs ten months

Cash price today, if he simply bought itRs 30,000

Your one-time profit for spreading the paymentsRs 4,000

The plan price, fixed on the day it is madeRs 34,000

Paid today, before the item leavesRs 6,000

Spread over ten monthly paymentsRs 2,800 each

The date each payment falls duethe 5th

What he will have paid when it is finishedRs 34,000

The Rs 4,000 is added once, on the day the plan is made, and it never grows afterwards for any reason.

Sit with the third line for a moment, because it is the one shopkeepers most want to skip.

Naming your profit out loud feels like inviting an argument. In practice it does the opposite, and the reason is that customers already assume it exists. Everybody knows that paying in parts costs more than paying at once; it is how every qist arrangement in every bazaar has always worked. What a customer does not know is how much, and an unknown amount always feels larger than a stated one.

Say "the cash rate is thirty thousand, and on a ten-month plan I add four thousand, so the total is thirty-four" and almost nobody objects. Some will ask you to reduce it, which is an ordinary negotiation and you can hold your number. Very few walk away, and the ones who do were never going to finish the plan comfortably.

One thing to be exact about, in your own words and in writing: the four thousand is added once, on the day the plan is made. It is not a charge that grows, and being late does not add anything to it. Never a penalty, never an extra amount for a missed month, no matter how long it takes. The price is fixed on day one and it stays fixed, and saying that clearly is worth more to your reputation than the four thousand itself.

Saying the total out loud

The same plan, told two ways

Said out loud, before he agreesLeft for him to work out

What he thinks he is payingSaid out loud, before he agreesRs 34,000, and he agreed to itLeft for him to work outRs 30,000, because that was the rate on the box

What happens in month fourSaid out loud, before he agreesHe pays, because nothing has surprised himLeft for him to work outHe adds it up and feels he was overcharged

What he tells his neighboursSaid out loud, before he agreesThe plan and the shop are straightforwardLeft for him to work outThat your prices change once you are committed

Who carries the doubtSaid out loud, before he agreesNobody. Both of you have the same paper.Left for him to work outYou, every month, in every conversation

What the last payment feels likeSaid out loud, before he agreesA finished job, and often a second planLeft for him to work outA relief, and he does not come back

The difference between those two columns is not the price. It is identical in both. The difference is whether the customer arrived at the number with you or discovered it alone.

There is a simple test for whether you have actually told him. Ask him to say the total back. "So how much will it be altogether?" If he answers Rs 34,000, he heard you. If he pauses, or says thirty thousand, or says he is not sure, then he did not hear you, and everything you carefully explained went past him because he was thinking about the item rather than the arithmetic.

That question feels strange the first two times you ask it and then becomes natural. It takes four seconds and it moves the whole plan from something you told him to something he agreed to, which is a different relationship for the next ten months.

The same applies to the dates. Ask which day he will pay. If he names the fifth himself, the fifth is now his number rather than yours, and the difference in how a person treats his own commitment against somebody else's is larger than any rule you could write down. The wider design of a plan that people can actually keep is set out in building a qist plan that stays fair.

What happens if he is late, said once and plainly

Tell him what a missed payment means, at the start, when nothing is at stake.

The answer in a well-run shop is short. Nothing is added to what he owes, ever. The payment simply moves, the plan takes longer, and you will ask him about it. That is the whole policy, and it is worth saying out loud precisely because a customer who has been to other places may be expecting something harsher.

Saying it at the start does two things. It removes the fear that stops people talking to you when they are struggling, and that fear is the real cause of most collapsed plans: a man who is short one month goes quiet, then avoids the shop, then avoids the street, and by the time anybody speaks it is four payments deep. A customer who knows nothing bad will happen tells you in advance and pays late instead of disappearing.

It also sets a boundary he will remember. "Nothing extra is added, and I will ask you every time" is a fair, firm sentence, and it makes the asking normal rather than a confrontation. What to do when it actually happens is set out in when a qist is missed.

If there is a guarantor on the plan, this is the moment to say what the guarantor's role actually is, in his hearing and the guarantor's. A guarantor who first learns of his obligations in month eight is a guarantor who will dispute them, and the whole subject is covered in when to ask for a guarantor.

Put it on one page, both keep a copy

The one page, made in five minutes

1. 1Write the item, with its model or sizeSo there is never a question about which piece the plan covers.
2. 2Write the cash price and your added profit separatelyTwo lines, not one. A single total invites the question later.
3. 3Write the plan price, and say it out loud once"So the total is thirty-four thousand. Agreed?" Wait for the answer.
4. 4Write the down payment and the balance after itThe number he is actually financing is the one he should see.
5. 5Write each payment and each date, all of themTen dated lines beat one sentence saying "monthly for ten months".
6. 6Both sign it, and he takes a copy homeA paper only you hold is a paper he has no reason to believe.

The copy is the part shopkeepers leave out, and it is the part that matters most.

A page that only you hold is a page he has no reason to trust, and it is also a page he cannot check against his own memory when he starts to doubt. A copy in his house does more work for you than for him: it answers his questions in his own home, on the night he is doing the arithmetic, without you being there to defend anything.

It does not need to be formal. A sheet with the item, the two prices, the down payment, ten dated lines and two signatures is enough, and it takes five minutes. What it must not be is a total with no working, because a total with no working is exactly what makes month four feel like a discovery.

If your plans are in an app rather than a notebook, the same page should come out of it. In Wasoolo an installment plan carries the cash price, the one-time profit you added, the down payment and every dated installment, and the printed plan can be handed to the customer as it is, so the copy he takes home is the same document your shop is working from.

The sentences that prevent most later trouble

Six things he should be able to repeat back to you

• The total he will have paid when the plan finishes
• The amount of each payment and the day it falls due
• That the price is fixed and will not move afterwards
• That a late payment is not charged anything extra
• What happens if he wants to finish the plan early
• Who else has been named on the plan, and why

The last row on that list is worth a line of its own. If somebody else is named on the plan, a guarantor or a second person paying, say so while both are present and make sure both understand what it means. Half the disputes in qist selling are between two people who each thought the other was responsible.

And judge the whole conversation by one thing at the end: can he repeat the total and the date? Not the details, not the model number. The total and the date. If he can, the plan is on solid ground and the next ten months are administration. If he cannot, you have a plan that exists in your book and a different plan that exists in his head, and only one of them is going to be paid without an argument.

Whether a plan is even the right instrument for this particular sale is a step before all of this, and it is weighed properly in udhaar or qist on a big item.

Will telling him my profit make him go somewhere else?

Very rarely. He already assumes there is one. Stating it makes your shop look confident and straightforward, and an unstated amount always feels bigger than a stated one.

What if he asks me to reduce the added amount?

That is an ordinary negotiation, and you can say no or trim it a little. What you should not do is hide it and then be asked about it later.

Should the whole plan be written even for a small item?

For anything above a couple of months, yes. It takes five minutes and it is the only version that survives a disagreement about a date.

He says he will pay whenever he can. Should I accept that?

No. Agree a specific day, ideally one he names himself, tied to when his own money arrives. A plan without dates is not a plan.

What if he wants to finish early and pay the rest at once?

Decide your answer now and tell him at the start. Many shopkeepers accept the remaining balance as it stands; whatever you choose, he should know it before he asks.

Should the guarantor be present when the plan is made?

Whenever possible, yes, and he should hear the same six numbers. A guarantor who was told about it afterwards is a guarantor who will argue about it afterwards.