Make them an offer they must refuse.
The Karrass Effective Negotiating Seminar teaches you how to use a 'Bogey' as a discovery tactic to gain more information. The more you know about what is on the other party's 'sheet,' the better the opportunity for you to find ways to create a Both-Win agreement.
Consider making them an offer they must refuse.
This is an interesting negotiating technique. There are times when you should make an offer the other side just has to refuse. Why should anyone give the other party such an offer?
Here's what this negotiating technique can accomplish.
Proposals like this help set the stage for making offers later that look good by comparison (i.e. it helps establish aspiration levels). Making an offer like this gives you time to explore various alternatives that could be acceptable. Using this technique can stall the negotiation; force talks to break down; or help postpone a decision until a time that is more favorable to you. All of these events provide you more time that can be used to craft a better agreement for both you and the other side.
One of the best reasons for making an offer the other side can't accept is to help you zero in on what is acceptable. The magic of such an offer is that it opens up a flow of conversation. When people believe that no agreement is likely, they talk more candidly with one another. It is then that real motivation and goals are revealed. After gaining this additional information, there is no reason you cannot then follow-up with a more knowledgeable offer that is acceptable.
There is some risk associated with this negotiating technique. But, you may find this technique can open up an avenue to a value enhanced agreement.
Caution is necessary -- particularly if you are on the 'sales side' of the negotiation. Make sure you leave yourself a way to re-enter negotiations. You want to use this negotiating technique to stop the negotiation, to allow you to gain more information, but you do not want to eliminate your proposal from consideration.
Consider making them an offer they must refuse.
This is an interesting negotiating technique. There are times when you should make an offer the other side just has to refuse. Why should anyone give the other party such an offer?
Here's what this negotiating technique can accomplish.
Proposals like this help set the stage for making offers later that look good by comparison (i.e. it helps establish aspiration levels). Making an offer like this gives you time to explore various alternatives that could be acceptable. Using this technique can stall the negotiation; force talks to break down; or help postpone a decision until a time that is more favorable to you. All of these events provide you more time that can be used to craft a better agreement for both you and the other side.
One of the best reasons for making an offer the other side can't accept is to help you zero in on what is acceptable. The magic of such an offer is that it opens up a flow of conversation. When people believe that no agreement is likely, they talk more candidly with one another. It is then that real motivation and goals are revealed. After gaining this additional information, there is no reason you cannot then follow-up with a more knowledgeable offer that is acceptable.
There is some risk associated with this negotiating technique. But, you may find this technique can open up an avenue to a value enhanced agreement.
Caution is necessary -- particularly if you are on the 'sales side' of the negotiation. Make sure you leave yourself a way to re-enter negotiations. You want to use this negotiating technique to stop the negotiation, to allow you to gain more information, but you do not want to eliminate your proposal from consideration.
Labels: Negotiation Strategies
posted by Karrass at
5:19 PM
6 Comments:
It is a good thing to realize that every approach has risk, thanks for including that point in this essay.
By
Stephen, At
September 21, 2008 9:15 PM
Karras, you are too good!
This is the $700 Wall Street bailout (aka Goldman Sachs Full Employment Act) that Bush and Ponzi Paulson put forward in a nut shell.
By
Anonymous, At
September 26, 2008 2:35 PM
What about an offer they can't refuse?
Fell free to compare and contrast with Godfather movie.
By
Anonymous, At
October 16, 2008 5:38 PM
The problem with an offer they can't refuse is that you are leaving 'money on the table.'
You have not discovered what they might have agreed to that would have enhanced your position and maybe theirs. They can't refuse your offer, so they take it. You just lost your ability to discover more information, further the relationship, and determine if there is truly a better deal somewhere.
You made the offer the could not refuse, they took it, are you satisfied with the outcome? Or do you think to yourself -- "Wow, they took it, I should have asked for more."
By
Karrass, At
October 17, 2008 12:21 PM
This strategy only works if both parties have relatively equal bargaining positions. I work in regulatory enforcement; one of my cases involves revoking the business license of a person convicted of criminal fraud, a bright-line ground for revocation. With such an unequal balance between my statutory powers and their conviction record, any offer by their side that I must refuse only weakens their credibility.
http://www.settlementperspectives.com/2008/10/the-most-important-word-in-negotiation/
By
Anonymous, At
November 13, 2008 1:09 AM
John, is the situation you described “revoking the business license of a person convicted of criminal fraud” really a negotiation? Sounds to me that you are enforcing a rule of law that is not open to negotiation. You don’t really need the other person to come to agreement with you.
By
Karrass, At
November 13, 2008 11:44 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home