My key customer just called and said that they have a better offer than mine!!! TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!

Imagine, that you are a private practice physician, and for the last few months you have been negotiating an updated mutually beneficial contract with a mega-corp insurance company. You are at the GOAL LINE with terms and conditions, and place a call to the insurance carrier to e- sign the final paperwork you were supposed to receive yesterday. Instead, you hear a flip of the script from the mega-corp insurance representative telling you " I am sorry, now, we don't have the flexibility on that key term, and will have to revert back to the original offer. You will have to decide if you want to proceed or not." The primary reason you embarked on this negotiation was this KEY TERM, and now you are back or close to zero, and essentially being told take it or leave it. You are rightfully fuming, thinking about the time you wasted and the fact that this KEY TERM is not going to reimburse properly for your time, equipment, or years of training! You want to call back mega-corp, and tell them what you think about "take it or leave it," but you know that a calmer mind is more rational.

While most will not be able to relate to being a surgeon, most reading this article will relate to being told: "take it or leave it" in some fashion or another. Whether you are a med device rep, buying real estate, service sales, or in a 4-year relationship a common negotiation tactic is the ULTIMATUM CALL that goes something like this: "I am sorry, we want to go with you but company X, just came in and offered us a deal we have to take. We like you, but you will have to meet this price and the terms for us to move forward. Please review and see what you can do, or we are forced to go with company X."

If you have ever had the "Ultimatum Call" and wondered what is the plan of action, continue reading this week's edition of The Targeted Approach to learn and refresh on plans of actions to best leverage the ULTIMATUM CALL scenario and 2 other feedback based topics designed to slash through the noise and feed your continued success:

1. 4 Persuasion Techniques-all of us can use today to
2. SEO-I know it stands for Search Engine Optimization, but what does that really mean?
3. "This is my final offer, take it, or leave it."-The Ultimatum scenario

4 Persuasion Techniques:

1. Argue against your own idea: State something against your own idea adds to the credibility.
2. Cite Statistics and Numbers: Give specific numbers and stats to help solidify your discussion.
3. Sight an Expert other than yourself: "In a 2012 study....."
4. Don’t be too perfect: More important to be authentic. People prefer to see minor mistakes makes us more human, want you to be authentic. People prefer authenticity over perfection.

SEO: Simple in Theory, Complex in Practice

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the practice of optimizing your business's content to be discovered through a search engine’s search results.

In theory, this is an easily understood concept. In reality though, and from what I’ve seen time and time again, this is the common denominator as to why so many businesses fail in the digital space. 

Sure you need to optimize your business, but what exactly needs optimizing and how do you go about starting? Is it the content? Is it the layout of the website? Is it the backlinks?

The short answer is Yes, Yes, Yes, and much more.

 The Google Library:

SE’s like google exist to discover, understand, and organize the internet's content in order to offer the most relevant results to the questions searchers are asking.

Think of search engines like an enormous library that will label and categorize the type of business you own and what you are offering their audience.

Now think of that library as going through a digital renovation. One that started in the early 2000s and culminating to now, where a search can be conducted by a few swift strokes of the keyboard, immediately providing the user with relevant and engaging experience. 

Those businesses that are optimized to SEO will have a place at the front of the line (or results page), while those who didn’t embrace SEO will be still be filed under the Dewey-Decimal system of the ’90s, banished to a life of obscurity.

Tying It Together:

SEO is complex, and much like Busch’s Baked Beans, the secret sauce of Google’s Algorithm will never be fully revealed.

We’re not flying blind though, in fact, Google and other SE’s will give insight into what factors they look for when considering page ranking. To date in 2020, there are over 200 listed variables for SEO published by Google as public information. Domain factors, page optimization, Backlink factors, and domain history just to name a few.

If these words seem foreign and have your head spinning, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re in the majority.

This is why Google came out with a credentialing system or its Google Premier Partnership. Awarded to those companies that have proven to consistently deliver company agency and client revenue growth, sustained and grown its client’s business base, and perform amongst the top 3% in the digital advertising space.

Feel free to message me if you want to know more about SEO, the factors Google looks for, or want to know more about how our premier partnership can pair your message to the right patient, at the right time.

Plan of Action for the ULTIMATUM SCENARIO:

Best Practice: Take a second and breathe! This 99-yard line change is a practice that is can be intentionally deployed by parties that are looking for a transaction verse a relationship, and/or you have an ankle-biting competitor throwing a wrench in your plans. They want to catch you when you are emotional and are looking for you to make a decision in the "heat of the moment." Ask yourself if this is a "true ultimatum or a negotiation tactic."

POA#1: Disregard the Threat: This requires you to draw on your dexterity, and place focus on the substantive elements of the discussion and negotiation. If you acknowledge the threat "take it or leave it," you are heightening the power to the ultimatum. A good script (scripts are not designed to be memorized as much as they are to help the right words flow) would be:

"I can understand your angst. We both want this deal to be made as we have put in ample time, and yet we are struggling to get this closed. Can you help me better understand your perspective? Where are our gaps?"-source, Malhorta and Bazerman

This response is designed to bring you back to the softer side to the core elements of the negotiation, and diffuse "take it or leave it" statements leaving the options open.

POA#2: Offset Any Additional Ultimatums they might want to make

Anticipate any threats and counterarguments that could be made, and bring them up proactively. Pre-empting the other side's aggression is a useful tactic when dealing with true concerns. When you acknowledge the other parties' voices, you are diffusing their aggression. The other party may still fight back, but they can not come from the position that you don't care for them.

POA #3: If you know the threat is a bluff, call the bluff diplomatically

If you know this threat is not credible and is a tactic, this is not a license to be a jerk or obnoxiously confront the situation. Instead, it is an opportunity to positively signal to the other party that because you understand their constraints and interests, you don't find this threat credible. Make your response friendly and gracious, while also signaling via constraints and interests you don't find the threats credible. Email me if you want some scripts on this.