Summary: Encouraging any partner interested in buying out another partner’s interest to make a fair and reasonable offer.

Example

Two business partners enter a buy-sell agreement that Establishes a Fair Starting Point in case either partner wants to buy the other partner out in the future. They make the following agreement: If Partner A wants to buy out Partner B, Partner A will make an offer that he considers fair and acceptable. B is then given a choice. She can accept A’s offer, or reverse the offer and buy out A under the same terms. This system of Establishing a Fair Starting Point encourages any partner interested in buying out another partner’s interest to make a fair and reasonable offer.

Counter

This is a difficult tactic to counter because both parties agree to the fair starting point before the tactic is ever utilized. If the situation has changed since the start of the negotiaiton, such as the business has doubled since the Fair Starting Point was established, the best tactic to counter with would be Facts and Statistics.

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