Negotiation Tactics: The Art of Creating an Advantage 

By James A. Baker
Negotiations Training Institute

You have been working on this deal for several weeks. All the details have been nailed down. The legal department has signed off. You are meeting with the customer today to sign the contract and everyone is all smiles. Just before the pen touches the paper, the customer looks up at you and says, "Oh, by the way, would it be okay if we lengthened the payment terms from net 30 to net 90? Our cash flow is really slowing down and it would really help us a lot to spread these payments out."

What are you going to do? It is almost the end of the month; closing this deal today is the difference between making or missing your quota. You don’t want to risk blowing up this deal now. Besides, you are still getting the contract; you are just not getting paid quite so quickly. On the other hand, extending the payment term is going to impact the cash flow of your own company at a time when every penny is needed now. Should you accept the last minute change, or should you put on the brakes, reopen the negotiation and risk losing the order?

You have just been hit with a negotiation tactic. Tactics have always been a part of the negotiation process. Some people pride themselves on knowing how to spring them on the other side at just the right time and in just the right way that will create the maximum amount of leverage for their side. However, for every tactic there is a counter move that will help you right your ship and keep the negotiation moving forward in a way that is fair to both sides.

Let’s begin by getting an overview about the nature of negotiation and where tactics fit in.

Strategy Versus Tactics

Every good negotiator starts by creating a strategy that will cover the entire negotiation. Strategy is the comprehensive plan you develop to help you achieve an important goal. You could call it your "battle plan." It includes all the key steps you will follow to help you "capture" your ultimate objective. Your negotiation strategy will define things like:

• What is your ultimate goal?
• What will be your opening position?
• What concessions are willing to make to the other side?
• What concessions do you expect them to be willing to make?
• What concessions do you expect them to ask of you?
• What tactics do you expect them to use?
• What tactics do you plan to use?
• What is the least you are willing to settle for?
• What will you do if you can’t reach a negotiation?

Understanding Negotiation Tactics

A tactic, on the other hand, is a very important component within that strategy. You might say it is a maneuver to be employed "in the heat of battle." It consists of any moves, countermoves and adjustments that could be employed as one side works to gain the best possible outcome at any given moment.

Five Negotiation Tactical Categories

Most tactics fall into one of five basic categories:

First, there are Delaying Tactics -- moves that drag out the process and buy time for gaining information and implementing other tactics.

There are also Pressure Tactics –maneuvers that play on the fear of losing the opportunity to close a deal, thereby forcing someone to make unwise concessions.

Also be on the lookout for Manipulative Tactics. These steps may be intended to trick or deceive you, or at least leverage your emotions so that you might make a decision that is not necessarily in your best interests.

Of course, there are plain old Power or One-up Tactics. These are the kind of approaches that are intended to discourage you from even thinking about challenging the other side’s position in the first place.

Finally, there are Collaborative Tactics. These actions are designed to build trust and find mutually beneficial solutions. I am a big fan of a style of negotiating known as WIN-WIN negotiating. I believe that the best outcome for a negotiation is for everyone to come away from the table happy with the results. For that reason, I am also a big fan of Collaborative Tactics, because they tend to produce the kind of trust necessary to get people working for a WIN-WIN.

One other thing about the tactics of negotiation: while some negotiation tactics stoop to the level of dirty tricks – also known as gutter tactics, and I DON’T encourage them – most of the time negotiation tactics are simply the way a skillful negotiator works to gain the most favorable outcome for his team or himself. Also, many of these tactics can be used both proactively and reactively, which is to say that you might sometimes rely on a tactic as you initiate a proposal, but you might also rely on the very same tactic to counter or offset a proposal from the other side.

For instance, in the above scenario, if you don’t feel it is in the best interest of your company to accept the last minute change (a Pressure tactic called Nibbling), you might simply say something like, "I am sure we can make some adjustments to the payment terms, but not without making adjustments someplace else, too. For example, if you are willing to go with the standard tech support plan instead of the premium plan, then spreading the payments out over 90 days would be no problem."

In future newsletters we are going to discuss some ways to neutralize tactics in each of the five categories, but for now, just remember this: The first step in being able to overcome a tactic is to simply realize that it is being used on you. Once you recognize it for what it really is, you are on your way to turning the conversation around.

 

James A. Baker is the Founder and Chairman of Baker Communications. Baker Communications is a sales training and development company specializing in helping client companies increase their sales and management effectiveness. He can be reached at 713-627-7700.

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