The A-Team Factor

When my two sons were younger, our favourite joint viewing was The A-Team. One speciality would be when a hapless victim was interrogated by 'Mr T', a big and frightening individual, together with 'Face', who was always 'Mr Nice'. Mr T would always scowl, growl, threaten and bully. Face would then come and gently, quietly, offer a way out, 'If only you would talk'. He would offer a drink, offer kindness, offer much nicer-sounding alternatives. Nearly every time the victim would be conned. He would give in unnecessarily. In Inspector Morse you can see Morse and Lewis playing exactly the same roles.

The same tactic is applied in negotiation. The buyer brings in his financial director, who sourly pulls your proposal to pieces. She gets angry about your prices and may even raise her voice to you. After a while she gets called into another meeting.

The buyer turns round to you like an old friend. He apologises for his director and offers much more reasonable-sounding terms. That is danger time! Beware of his tactic, because it seems so reasonable, but only in comparison with the bully. The bully has set us up for Mr Nice, who then seems reasonable. The problem is that because we have been deflated and our aspirations have been lowered we can too quickly negotiate from the wrong base.

The best possible thing you can do is laugh when you spot the tactic. Lower their authority by showing them you know what they are doing. Then don't negotiate immediately, otherwise you will be comparing the reasonable buyer's demands with the bully. Instead, excuse yourself, give yourself time, take a loo break and take time to compare current demands with what you had already determined as your negotiating position.