The Negotiators Secrets

Greetings Negotiators!

This afternoon I was doing the weekly grocery shopping with my wife at our favorite has-everything, high-end grocery store. We buy their store-brand dog food in three different flavors for our two furry children, Smooches and Nikita. So we get three cases worth and there were only two cases in our brand. There were two men in the isle re-stocking so I look at my wife, then I look at the stokers and guess what I did next?

If you guessed Started Negotiating then you are correct. Of course it is at this point most people ask the question “how?”. Here is the technique:

Ask yourself “What do I need, what do I want, what is my interest…” something along those lines. When you get the answers to those questions then turn those answers into questions themselves. Does that sound like a puppy chasing it’s tail? Lets return to today’s experience for the answer.

I wanted to buy a case of the-best-brand dog food for the our-standard-brand dog food price. The difference between our brand and best-brand was $1.00. When you buy in bulk, that $1.00 quickly turns into a tank full of gas. Once I decided what I wanted – I turned that what-I-wanted information into questions and here is what they sounded like:

Bruce: “Hey, looks like you are out of our favorite brand of dog food. Do you have any in the back?” David the Stocker: “No.” came the reply after a bit of stocker discussion with the other fellow in the isle. Bruce: “Any chance you’d sell me the super-expensive brand for our-favorite-brand prices if I buy a case?” David the Stocker: (Looks at me then at the empty shelf and ponders a moment) “Sure, I can do that. I’ll have to write my initials on each can and write the new price as well. Do you want two cases?” (David attempts an upsale then takes out his marksalot black marker and gets to writing) Suzanne: “Can we split that new-brand case into the three different flavors it comes from?” Bruce: (experiences just-closed-the-deal jitters and almost has a Negotiation Panic Attack thus almost vetos the wife-request but keeps quiet SOMEHOW) David the Stocker: (smiles and just nods his ascent) Second Negotiator (an elderly lady who was eavesdropping my Negotiation): “Can I get that too?” David the Stocker: (plays dumb [I think]) “Can you get what?” Second Negotiator: “The same deal that they got?” Bruce: (thinks to himself “Negotiate your own deal or buy my dog food for the price of getting such a great impromptu deal!”) David the Stocker: (bores Second Negotiator with a long monolgue about “quantity”, “supply and demand”, “special circumstance”…) Second Negotiator: (wanders off).

Second Negotiator

 

Don’t get me wrong – Second Negotiator can be a resourceful role. Especially if the Second Negotiator can structure a better deal or add (sometimes subtract) something from the original deal to make the deal sweeter and still create his-her Negotiating outcomes. HOWEVER, if the First Negotiator is worth his weight in $100 bills then few Second Negotiators can leech off your deal. I’m worth 13.4 million in $100 bills by the way.

And if Second Negotiator had known anything about Negotiating she might have offered to pay me directly for the cans she wanted – he did try to sell me two cases. That would have made her a First Negotiator by the way since she would be dealing with me, not him. I would have tried to get her to throw in her car and her pension fund however.

If you would like to know more about First and Second Negotiator please feel free to leave a comment or write me directly: justask@yourownbestgood.com. What would happen if everytime you opened your mouth you got EXACTLY what you wanted?

Bruce Burns the Negotiator!