I thought this was kind of a funny situation. During the time when I changed my cell phone plan I started to tell people that I knew about it so that hopefully they can get something better than what they were currently paying as well.
Just recently, my brother’s cell phone plan was expiring and he wanted to get a similar plan that I had. He had everything planned it seemed as he didn’t want to misquote anything to risk the possibility of not getting the best deal. I did mention beforehand though that you generally don’t need to try too hard as most of the time companies try to give you the best offer.
Sure enough, when he phoned in the person was willing to give him a good deal without much fuss. It actually kept going as my brother simply asked how much more the person could do for him and the person genuinely tried to do as much within reason. Basically, the situation was like going into battle with all this heavy artillery only to find out your opponent is like a hamster of some sort.
Many times too, it’s more about who you are talking to rather than how much details and information you could provide someone in terms of getting better offers. So there isn’t usually a need to try too hard if you are trying to get better plans/rates.