Keep Calm And Negotiate

Finally, after a series of benign, upbeat posts, I feel it’s time for a rant.

 Well, if I’m honest, it’s not a proper rant, like the kind of rant you’d have if the sleeve of your shirt was to get wet while brushing your teeth.

It’s more about the importance of emotional intelligence and keeping your emotions in check while negotiating, even when your counterpart is “pushing your buttons” (either by accident or calculated design).

 I’ve been responsible for buying capex machinery for 2 different companies during my career. If you’ve seen my other posts on this topic, you’ll know that I bloomin’ love it. I love building a relationship with the technical functions and helping them understand and then deliver the value that good Procurement can bring to their area.

 I was once trying to negotiate a deal with a US-based supplier who had a stranglehold (emotive word right there) on a piece of key production equipment that my company needed.

 The price had been ratcheting up over recent years, the lead times had become more variable, and the service had been sub-standard. If you’re a Procurement pro reading this, then I imagine that your hackles are up already.

 Naturally, I wanted to negotiate a few things as part of the upcoming purchase. The salesman’s schedule was tight, so I made a day-trip to Chicago just to meet with the seller.

 I had a good relationship with the salesman, but frankly, this was partially driven by the fact that I had such very little leverage and no BATNA in sight, so I felt that I should at least be liked (persuasion module 101) if I was to get even a sniff of a better deal.

 The negotiation started well; we agreed some measures that would reduce variability of lead time (questioning showed that several of the causes were created by my organisation) and agreed expectations on service level.

 Then we came on to the subject of price.

 After presenting the facts and data, which left my counterpart totally unmoved, I brought some emotion in. “How would you feel if you were in my position?”, “what would you do if your most important supplier was treating YOU like this?”.

 Even the most stone-hearted salesman could surely empathise with my situation?

 He did. Or at least that’s what I thought, based on the non-verbal signals he was displaying.

 I made my proposal.

 The salesman went quiet, and I was thinking “oh my word, he’s going to agree”.

 The silence continued, then was broken by the friendly salesman saying “Yes, I can agree to that…Chuck”.

 Was this a display of me having finally forged such a strong relationship that the salesman had invented a pet name for me? That would be a new high-water mark in my negotiation career!

 While I was high-fiving myself in my head, thinking what an absolute hero I was for finally making progress with this reluctant supplier, the salesman continued talking. And the topic wasn’t related to the one that he and I had been discussing.

 No. The salesman had taken a phone call in his earpiece while we were negotiating. Chuck was in fact an entirely unrelated third party!

“Yes. I can agree to that…Chuck”

 I couldn’t believe that this was happening. The rudeness, the bare-faced cheek, the arrogance. I was aghast.

 Nevertheless, I sat there patiently in the windowless meeting room, trying not to give any body language away that I was incandescent with rage on the inside.

 Using all my powers of stoicism to remain calm, I continued with the negotiation when he was finished with his call as if nothing had happened, summarizing what we’d agreed already. I appeared to be unfazed.

 In the end, I got a better deal than the one that was originally on the table. Had I “thrown my toys out of the pram” then who knows how things would have ended.

 It’s quite likely that the relationship would have been harmed and I’d be heading back to Blighty empty-handed, with some embarrassing admissions to make to management.

 So the moral of the story is, when you’re in a difficult negotiation, remain focused on your objectives. Be aware of your emotions both inwardly and outwardly and keep them in check, in spite of your counterpart’s efforts to knock you off your path.

If your team would benefit from learning how to negotiate (even with tricky people) please get in touch.