Unpredictability

My experience is that people are not really good at keeping records of what happens in negotiations. They have so much going on in their lives that that just isn’t important enough to end up on their radar screen.

If you have a tactic or approach that works for you with someone with whom you negotiate regularly, well, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. It’s not always bad to fall into a rut if that rut takes you where you want to go.

If on the other hand, something that worked in the past suddenly doesn’t work, be prepared to switch, they may have picked up on your pattern and developed a strategy to use it against you. Make sure you have a plan B.

On the other hand, you do need to keep track of what the other side does if you negotiate with them on a regular basis, especially because they often fall into very predictable patterns.

One sales person told me this story. He had recently been hired to cover a fairly compact territory in the Midwest. He was at one of his customers, introducing himself to the buyer. The buyer explained that he needed to place an order for some of the products that our sales person handled.

So they worked up the purchase order, reached an agreement on the pricing and other things, and the buyer was just about to sign off when he said, “I just saw Bruce go by. He is our director of purchasing, and I’d like you to meet him.” (continued on page 34)