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Tactic # 90- The Field Trip
Summary: Arranging for a counterpart to
visit one's site or the site of another customer.
Any time you can get your
counterpart to leave her office and visit your site or the
operation/installation of one of your customers, you obtain leverage.
One reason this approach works so beautifully is that it also employs
the tactic of Investing Time by getting your counterpart to spend time
and energy on the negotiation, which raises her level of commitment. A
second reason this tactic is effective is that it gives you the
opportunity to show your counterpart how well what you are selling works
in real life. This enables your counterpart to envision herself using
your product or service.
Example
A salesman
who sells printing presses invites a potential buyer out to the plant of
another customer who is currently utilizing the model of press the
potential buyer is interested in. The buyer sees that the press is
working well and the customer is happy with it. As the buyer watches the
demonstration, she can actually picture her staff using the press.
Counter
To protect herself, the buyer needs to make sure she has the ability to
walk away from the demonstration without feeling obligated to make a
decision on the spot. This ability to walk away will help maintain
balance in the negotiation. To make sure she has all the facts, the
buyer could plan her own Field Trip (possibly to a plant where
they are using a competitor’s product). The more knowledge she gains
about the competition and the product under consideration, the better
off she will be. She might even seek out customers who are dissatisfied
with the product in question. Any information she acquires will help her
gain leverage if she decides to continue negotiating with the first
salesman.
Ask the
Negotiator
Dear Master Negotiator,
I am at the early stages of a contract negotiation for high-risk
construction work where the client is nation wide with terms too onerous
for comfort. The arguments are sound however, the person responsible for
contract management will only communicate via email and is painfully
slow to respond. In my experience, the tone of written words is often
misinterpreted and I am hesitant to go any further without some form of
human contact. Is there a good tactic for overcoming this type of
obstacle?
Thank you,
Randy
Dear Randy,
One thing you did not mention is if you believe you are the only bidder
on this contract or if you have been awarded the contract and are now
working on the agreement of terms. Each of these aforementioned
alternatives makes a significant difference on how you might proceed. I
am going to make the assumption that you have been awarded the contract
and now you are working out the deal points.
First, I think the strategy of the nation-wide
corporation is a good one. To do this revision on contract language by
email keeps emotion out of the negotiation and gives them much more time
to have the legal-eagles review the wording before the counterpart
agrees to anything. There are a couple of strategies that may be
helpful.
-
Don't call or email the request for a meeting. Have
your assistant call the contract manager's assistant and see if they can
work together to get a meeting scheduled. Having a third party call to
set up meetings works well for me.
-
You could inform the contract professional when he
next communicates with you that you will not be able to proceed forward
without a face to face meeting.
-
You can utilize the same tactic of delay. If you
already have the deal, at some point the corporation's user buyers are
going to be ready to implement. Then, they will be screaming at the
contracts manager to get the contract signed. In this specific
situation, the power will be reversed.
Now, if you don't already have the deal, they may be
negotiating with someone else and the reason they don't return your
communication is they have no need to build a relationship with you. In
these situations, put your time and energy into a customer who values
what you do. We wish you great success in creating a win-win outcome.
Best Regards,
Peter and Jane
Ask the
Negotiator - Are you involved in a
negotiation and not sure what strategies or tactics to use?
Send in your toughest negotiation
challenge and our team of expert negotiators will outline a specific
plan to ensure your success. Please send your negotiation
challenge (please put Negotiation Challenge in the subject
line) to patti@pbsconsulting.com.
If your challenge gets published, we'll send you an autographed copy
of The Only Negotiating Guide You'll Ever Need, by Peter
Stark and Jane Flaherty ($14.95 retail.)
To view the latest issue of The Master
Negotiator, the premiere on-line newsletter for negotiators,
follow this link:
The Master Negotiator, Volume 2, Number
11 The Fifteen Rules Every Negotiator Must Know
To view previous Negotiating Tactics of the Week,
follow this link:
Negotiating Tactics of the Week
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