(Continued from page 36) So how do you defend against the nibble? The first key is to remember what Yogi said: “It ain’t over till it’s over.” Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. You see, if you count this as a done deal, then the nibble looks like just a little impediment. You know you can throw in the little nibble, that’s OK. And then there’s just one more. And then just one more. And you’re heading down the slippery slope to nowhere until you realize that you’ve got a nibble game going on.

When you get that first nibble, make a mental switch. Hey, this isn’t over - we’re still negotiating. It’s just taking on a new form. The best way to deal with the nibble is to nip it in the bud.

One way is to just say no. Sometimes, a polite but firm no will end the process right there. How many times have you heard the other party say, “Well, it never hurts to ask.”

A second approach is to start to reconfigure the deal. You might say, “if that is really important to you, we might be able to do that, but the only way I could would be if we went back and changed something else.”

What you’re doing here is saying, “Look, you’ve reached my bottom line. I gave you my best possible deal. If I’m going to give you something else, I have to take away something somewhere else.” When you say, “Yes, I’ll give it to you but we’ll have to change something else,” that’s a pretty credible message that you really have reached your bottom line.

Usually they will back off, or if it is really important to them, they may agree to reconfigure the deal so that they can get what they need.