(Continued from page 9) When they throw up resource limits, it usually has to do with a claim that they don’t have enough money in their budget. But I am sure that you’ve experienced many times, as we have in our negotiation seminars, situations where seemingly insoluble budget limitations dissolved in the end, as they magically managed to find moneys from other line items to fill the gap.

One of ways to deal with a policy limit or resource limit situation that we review in our negotiation training sessions is to use some of the mental judo inherent in all negotiations, and link it to the agreement in principle approach.

To do that, you start off by taking the limitations at face value. Try to get the customer to agree that if you could overcome these limitations, they would be willing to close the sale.

If they say yes, you know have an agreement in principle to go forward with the sale. All that remains is to enter into a problem solving negotiation to overcome the limitations. If they don’t have enough money in this year’s budget, and we’re close to the end of their fiscal year, how about billing them in next year’s budget?

If the limitations, either policy or resource, that they have brought up are real, the likelihood is that they will actively engage with you to try to get around the problem so that they, in fact, can buy from you.

If the limitations are bluff or mostly bluff, they will become evasive as you try to enter into the problem solving mode. This usually is an indicator to let the subject drop, go on to the next issue, and very often, you will never hear about those policy or resource limits again.