The Hurdle

The Hurdle!

Countless times I have been in a negotiation and the other person has said, 'You must be joking' or 'You will have to improve that'. They might say, 'You are getting close - but!' That, by the way, always means 'Your price is high and it's a hurdle to the agreement. Drop the hurdle and let's see what we can do.'

They are implying that price is the key issue and other elements of the negotiation are acceptable. Turn it to your advantage. Your immediate response should be something like this: 'From what you are saying, it seems that are you are happy with the proposal. If we can agree together on price, can I assume we have a deal?'

What we are doing here is using the other person's ploy to our advantage, narrowing down any possible further areas of potential disagreement. Don't catch price rot! Performance is part of our price and we must communicate that. A carefully crafted approach would go like this: 'Let me ask you, isn't it true that all companies have a choice to make? They can either provide a service which does as much as possible for their customers, or they can provide a service which does just enough to get by with. Isn't that the choice that every company must make?' The other person usually says, 'Yes'. We say, 'Well, what would you prefer from us, as much as possible or just enough to get by with?'

We can do better on price if you accept the following. If we have to trade, we do so reluctantly. We make sure that any movement on our side is accompanied by movement on their side.