Saturday, October 2, 2010
Cranium Booster: Negotiation Re-visit - Divide and Conquer
Cranium Booster: Negotiation Re-visit - Divide and Conquer: "Image via Wikipedia Buzzwordy's Reservoir of Marketing Tips Negotiation Re-visit The following tip was introduced as the t..."
Negotiation Re-visit - Divide and Conquer
Image via WikipediaBuzzwordy's Reservoir of Marketing Tips
Negotiation Re-visit
The following tip was introduced as the third one from my September 14, 2010 negotiation post,
Always ask for one-on-one during negotiation. If the other side insists on a panel negotiation style, then ask to meet them in a noisy location. Use the noise as an excuse to identify and home into just one representative on the other side to drive the message across. This Divide and Conquer method works well in many cases.
Lets use Buzzwordy in this example.
The Location: customer's sprawling meeting room
The Parties: Buzzwordy and the customer negotiation team
The Topic: extended product warranty request
"Mr. Customer, this is a really pleasant surprise to me. I did not anticipate being greeted by your entire team. Wow! By the way, since we are cutting it pretty close to the lunch hour, if you and your team don't mind, I know a great restaurant that is not too far from here. They have great Mexican food and the service is excellent!" suggested Buzzwordy as he entered into the oversized meeting room.
The customer and his team looked at one another. Some of the members nodded and Buzzwordy didn't sense a huge objection from the customer side.
"I guess it will be OK. In the interest of time, lets get going now!" responded the customer.
Buzzwordy managed to get a big enough table to accommodate the customer, his team and him. Little did the customer and his team knew, this Mexican restaurant was a bit on the noisy side. People really need to raise their voices to get heard.
"Pardon me, I couldn't quite catch what your team member was asking!" apologized Buzzwordy.
Another team member made a terse comment and Buzzwordy implemented the same tactic when responding to her.
"Mr. Customer, I'm terribly sorry for not catching what your team is saying. This is a great restaurant and it attracts so many people. I think it is a little challenging to have our extended product warranty discussion with everyone at the table. If you don't mind, why don't you and I discuss first and we can update your team later. Is this acceptable to you?" proposed Buzzwordy.
Since the customer was no longer in his office, he lost his home town advantage. In addition, he was thrown into a more relaxed and neutral location that caused him to drop his guard.
"I guess I can go along with your suggestion for the time being" responded the customer.
"Thanks very much for being so accommodating." smiled Buzzwordy.
As we can see from this example, Buzzwordy was able to strategize a smart little plan by getting the customer to change the negotiation location from his home base to a neutral one. By leveraging the noisy environment inside the restaurant, he was able to further alienate the customer from his team and have an one-on-one discussion despite the presence of the customer's team. This divide-and-conquer method gave Buzzwordy an edge over the customer in negotiating the extended product warranty deal.
A three gun salute to Buzzwordy for a job well done.
Buzzwordy
Note from Buzzwordy
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Questions
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Cranium Booster: What?
Cranium Booster: What?: "Day Forty Three, Mr. Wang asked one of his staffs to escort Buzzwordy and Bif back to their hotel. He gave both of them a nasty st..."
What?
Day Forty Three,
Mr. Wang asked one of his staffs to escort Buzzwordy and Bif back to their hotel. He gave both of them a nasty stare before they left the meeting room but he refrained from saying anything to either one of them.
Buzzwordy felt a sense of relief once he got back to his hotel room. He knew that his action had royally offended Mr. Wang, however, given the disadvantageous position that Bif and he were in, he concluded that calling the meeting off abruptly was the best option for them to take.
The challenge that Buzzwordy had was to figure out how to win this negotiation without initiating an all out war with Mr. Wang. He knew that Bif wasn't going to do anything, hence, the burden would be on his shoulder to make sure that he could end up being the winner in this tricky negotiation.
"Bif, are you in your room, I need to discuss with you about how to move forward with Mr. Wang?" asked Buzzwordy while standing outside of his Boss's room.
"Buzzwordy, I have a terrible headache at this moment. What I want you to do is to resolve this negotiation with Mr. Wang within today. I don't know what you're planning to do but it really doesn't matter to me since you are the one who called this meeting off without a proper ending. So, fixed it!" shouted Bif from inside the room.
"Alright Bif, I'll take care of it!" responded Buzzwordy.
It was an extremely down moment for Buzzwordy, especially knowing that Bif wasn't going to do anything to support him. He thought about Xavia back in the states and told himself that there was nothing that his immediate boss could do to help him out in this case. Once again, he had to fight the whole battle by himself.
He sent the below quick email to Mr. Wang and cc'ed Bif and Xavia,
Dear Mr. Wang,
I'm feeling much better now and if you're still available, I would like to re-start our meeting anytime this afternoon.
Please let me know.
Regards,
Buzzwordy
CC: Bif, Xavia
Oddly, Mr. Wang did not respond to him. Buzzwordy waited for more than two hours before sending another email to him. Again, Mr. Wang did not reply.
It was almost dinner time and Buzzwordy was becoming restless inside the hotel room. While slamming his body repeatedly into one of the walls to vent out his frustration, he heard someone knocking on the door.
"Excuse me, is Mr. Buzzwordy inside?" asked a wimpy female voice.
Buzzwordy came running to the door and opened it quickly. He saw an old lady standing outside of his room with a tiny envelope in her hand.
"Yes, I am. Are you with the hotel or did Mr. Wang send you here?" questioned the marketing whiz kid.
"I was sent by Mr. Wang to give you this envelope." replied the old lady.
"Thanks very much for bringing this envelope to me." replied Buzzwordy while reaching out to receive the envelope.
The old lady left the scene hurriedly and Buzzwordy wasted no time to open the envelope. He found a handwritten letter inside and suspected that it must be Mr. Wang's penmanship.
He gazed at the letter in total disbelief and was completely disoriented.
"What?" screamed Buzzwordy.
Lets reconnect on Day Forty Four.
Buzzwordy
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