Become A Master Negotiator

Summary: Presenting a problem to a counterpart and challenging him to come up with creative options for a resolution.

This tactic is effective for encouraging your counterpart to come up with creative ways to achieve your goal. You present a challenge that your counterpart needs to help you overcome.

Example

An insurance company’s office supply manager tells a vendor, “I really enjoy working with you and I think your equipment and service are exactly what we need. The problem is, we have a budget of only $150,000 and you have quoted nearly $165,000. What can you do to help us stay within the budget?”

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Summary: Offering a “trial” of a product or service to get the counterpart emotionally committed to the deal.

The power behind The Puppy Dog tactic lies in letting your counterpart use the object she is negotiating for before the deal is finalized. The name is derived from the tactic pet store owners use when they tell you to go ahead and hold the puppies and play with them while you consider buying one. I once ended up with a $400 Old English Sheepdog because of this very tactic. With Sir Bentley licking me on the face, $400 seemed quite reasonable!

Example

Michael wants to buy a used boat, but he and the owner are stuck on the price. The owner suggests that Michael take the boat to a nearby island for the weekend. The owner is convinced that at the end of the weekend, Michael will feel the boat is worth the full asking price. When Michael returns from a great weekend, he continues to try to get the owner to sell the boat for a lower price. But the owner says he is confident he can find another buyer who will pay the full price. The owner is a smart man. He knows that after a great weekend, Michael has already bought the boat in his mind. In fact, he would probably be willing to pay even more money if the owner raised the price.

Counter

The tactic of The Puppy Dog is so powerful that the only effective counter is These Boots Are Made for Walking. If Michael wants to continue negotiating the price, he should remove himself from the picture and let a third party negotiate for him. Once his emotions have been committed and the boat owner knows it, Michael is in a very vulnerable position.

Have you used or encountered this tactic in your negotiations? If so, how’d it go?

Summary: Sometimes you need to toss your counterpart a rope or build a bridge that provides a path to a win-win negotiation.

Example

Squeaky Clean, a window washing company, is trying to get a large corporation as a customer. After a year of talking with the manager of the Facilities Department, the corporation still has not even asked for a bid from the window washing company. Finally, the owner of Squeaky Clean calls the Facilities Manager and says, “We really want to work with your company. Not only do we do a phenomenal job of keeping your windows clean, our price will be competitive. Because we want to work with you so badly, you pick the dirtiest side of your building, and to show you the quality of our work, we will clean all the windows on that side for free. With no money at risk, would you be willing to let us do this so that we can demonstrate our quality and commitment to your satisfaction?”

Counter

If the Facilities Manager does not want to switch window cleaning companies, the best counter in this situation would be a simple refusal of the offer. The manager could also use a Conditional No, saying he is unable to give Squeaky Clean the opportunity to showcase their work right now, but will request a bid from them in the next fiscal year.

Have you used or encountered this tactic in your negotiations? If so, how’d it go?

Summary: Offering less than a counterpart is asking for, hoping to make her go away.

This tactic is designed for all the really nice people in the world who find it just too difficult to look their counterparts in the eyes and say, “No, I am not going to do that!”

Example

You have a neighbor who makes it a weekly habit to come over to your house to borrow food. This week your neighbor shows up and asks to borrow a dozen eggs. Since you think it seems mean to refuse your neighbor’s requests, you usually comply with them. But today you employ the tactic of Conditional ‘No’ instead. You say, “I don’t have a dozen eggs. I have only four eggs that I can give you now. Would you like four eggs?” Eventually, if you get good enough with the tactic of Conditional ‘No’, you may even see yourself progressing to the following exaggeration of this tactic: When your neighbor asks to borrow a dozen eggs, you respond, “I do not have a dozen eggs. But, as long as you are here on my doorstep, I wanted to ask if I could borrow a gallon of milk from you.”

Counter

The easiest counter for the neighbor would be to accept the four eggs graciously and be grateful you are so generous! A second possible counter would be These Boots Are Made for Walking. The neighbor could respond by saying, “Four eggs will not be enough for me to make breakfast for my entire family, so I’ll have to go to the store.” A really nice neighbor would also counter by Asking the Closed-Ended Question, “When I am at the store, can I buy you a dozen eggs?”

Have you used or encountered this tactic in your negotiations? If so, how’d it go?