My Favourite Negotiating Tactic

Negotiating to Get what You Want

There are many negotiating tactics but this one is my favourite. You can’t use this approach in every negotiation but it happens a lot. But when it happens you can lower the boom for the immediate win. It does have a precondition - the person you are negotiating with has to give you the opening.

Here is how it plays out. You start negotiating with someone. They explain you can’t get what you want but then they make a crucial error - they throw in a specific qualifier. In many cases, the qualifier provides an easy opening to get what you want.

Here are three examples of how it works.

Just after I got married, we moved into a new housing development. The sod hadn’t even been laid. At the edge of the development the builder had collected a large pile of boulders from all the excavation work. Sitting in this pile was a gorgeous pink granite boulder the size of a Smart Car. I thought this would be a great landscaping feature. One sunny day the builder was driving down the street in his backhoe. I stopped him and explained what I wanted. Ten minutes later the boulder was placed nicely in my front yard in exchange for a case of beer. I was pretty pleased with myself.

My wife called me in for dinner. We just finished and the doorbell rang. It was Rick - my neighbor from a few doors down. He was visibly upset. Rick informed me:

“You’ve stolen my rock, I’ve had my eye on that rock for three weeks.”

Ok – can you spot the qualifier? Yup so here comes the boom.

“Well Rick I’ve had my eye on it for four weeks”

No protracted discussions where each side outlines their position. No argument/counter argument volleys.

Very simple. Game. Set. Match.

Rick muttered as few things and walked away – what could he say?

Another example happened this week. Paul, my business development manager, was signing us up for a major industry trade show. The trade show rep informed Paul that the show had expanded and we wouldn’t be able to get a booth in the prime exhibit hall any more. All software vendors are being moved to an auxiliary exhibit hall. The only exception was software companies that directly integrate with machinery.

Paul’s instant response: “We are releasing our new machinery integration product and this show is THE big launch event for us.”

Yup, Paul got us the booth we wanted.

The last example comes from Kenneth Cole. Here is how he launched his famous shoe company. Kenneth didn’t have the funds to rent space at the major shoe industry convention. But he had an idea. He wanted to park his portable showroom (a forty foot tractor trailer) in front of the host hotel. He went down to city hall to get a parking permit.

He was informed that absolutely not, there was no way a permit would be issued. Permits are only issued for companies shooting a movie.

Spot the qualifier?

Kenneth made an instant decision. There just would never be a better time to scratch off a recent addition (very recent!) to his bucket list. A dream had just come to him. He needed to shoot a documentary film on the shoe industry. He explained that he had scouted locations all over the city. He had found the perfect spot and the perfect week to do it. Kenneth got his permit and launched his company. It is now worth over $200 million.

So always listen for the qualifier and be ready to pounce – you might end up with $200 million - or at least a nice rock.