The art of negotiation is just business, nothing personal
An unexpected result of the publication of the previous article was that many of my acquaintances, colleagues, and friends read the book indicated in it. This was followed by interesting discussions in Skype. I realized that people often consider the same question from different angles and draw conclusions different from mine, but no less valuable. This post was written not only to share knowledge and experience in mastering the art of negotiation, but also with the hope that with the help of readers I will discover ideas that I could not see myself.
So, today I want to talk about the book by Professor Gavin Kennedy “You can agree on everything” and how the skill of negotiation helps in professional activities and daily activities. I read the book for quite a long time, but only now a sufficient number of vivid examples has accumulated that the practical tips mentioned in it are effective and work almost without fail.
Judging by the reviews, experts all over the world consider Gavin Kennedy's work the best textbook on conducting professional negotiations. The material is presented in an interesting game form, replete with practical examples and life situations. According to Kennedy, negotiators are divided into 4 categories:
')
Of course, this is extreme, and often people combine the character traits of several of the listed characters in different situations. Before each chapter we are waiting for a fascinating test, the results of which we fall into one of the categories. I thought that I had a great deal of experience in negotiating and would like to associate myself with an owl, but as it turned out, sometimes I behave like an ass and sometimes like a sheep.
Oh, if this book fell into my hands 3 years ago! But even now, just a few months after reading it, the time I spent paid off was an order of magnitude. It is remarkable that Gavin Kennedy writes very briefly and to the point. He does not like to pour water, unlike Kiyosaki or Adizes (whose work I, of course, have great respect), so the book does not have a single “extra” text. Moreover, a brief retelling of the main ideas would take no less place than the book itself. In view of the above, I will give examples of only a few of my favorite tricks that I managed to put into practice.
They are also called shuttle diplomacy. The main idea pretty well reflects the following bearded joke:
Once Henry Kissinger was asked:
- What is “shuttle diplomacy”?
Kissinger replied:
- ABOUT! This is a universal Jewish method! Let me explain with an example:
You want the method of shuttle diplomacy
marry Rockefeller's daughter to marry
a guy from a russian village.
- How?
- Very simple.
I'm going to the Russian village, I find there is a simple guy
and ask:
- Do you want to marry an American Jewish woman?
- Fuck ?! We and our girls are full.
- Yes. But she is a billionaire daughter!
- ABOUT! It changes things ...
Then I go to Switzerland, to the meeting of the bank and ask:
- Do you want to have a president of the Siberian man?
“Ugh,” they say to me at the bank.
- And if he, at the same time, will be Rockefeller's son-in-law?
- ABOUT! This of course makes a difference!
And yet — yes, I am going home to Rockefeller and asking:
- Want to have a son-in-law Russian peasant?
- What are you saying, in our family everything is financiers!
- And he, just - the president of the Swiss bank!
- ABOUT! It changes things! Susie! Go here. Mr Kissinger found you
groom This is the president of the Swiss Bank!
Susie:
- Phi ... All these financiers are dohlyaks or fagots!
- Yes! But this - a hefty Siberian man!
- Ltd! It changes things!
Please note that deception in negotiations is unacceptable. In the above joke, everyone was happy to get what they wanted. Now I will tell you how this approach helped me reduce the tariff for the Internet connection service three times.
In our office, Internet access is provided by the trunk provider A and provider B, the buying channel from A. Just a year ago, we decided that A was safer and entered into an agreement with them at a price of 4,720 rubles per month, including VAT, for 4 megabits per second.
About three months ago, I learned that one of our neighbors (a person with an active lifestyle, who is able to defend his interests) obtained from provider A the price of 2360 rubles per month, including VAT, for 4 megabits per second.
The first thought was to call provider A, rebel and demand the same price. Fortunately, the years of combat training in the service at the Mathematical Faculty taught me that the task should be taken only after all the initial data have been taken into account. Upon reflection, I realized that this position is not very strong and will cause a negative reaction from the employee from the sales department of provider A. It could scare me all the raspberries.
Then I called provider B and said that provider A provides access to the network at a price of 2000 rubles per month (sometimes you can forget about VAT) for 4 megabits per second:
- Can you offer me something better?
- Yes, of course ... hmm ... for example, will 1,700 rubles suit you?
- Including VAT?
- Yes.
- And could you give 6 megabits per second at this price?
- 6 megabits ... yes, they could!
“How fast could you connect us?”
- Yes, even tomorrow! Only connection will cost 800 rubles.
- Thank! This is a very interesting offer! I'll call you back.
Now my position before the dialogue with provider A was much stronger. Of course, I didn’t want to pay 800 rubles for connection and change A to B, but I preferred to omit these facts as insignificant, preparing for a phone call to office A. Here I must say that half a year ago they laid the money for department K for use. trial version of Photoshop. Probably, by law, they are obliged to monitor the network and report such offenses, but the unpleasant aftertaste remained. I had to get experience in communicating with an employee from the relevant department and buy a license package for 50,000 rubles. And yes, now we use only licensed software. Anticipating retribution, I called:
- Hello
- Sales department of the company A. Hello. How can I help?
- We use your Internet access service at a speed of 4 megabits per second for 4720 rubles per month, and provider B offers us 6 megabits at a price of 1,700 rubles including VAT. We are completely satisfied with the quality of communication provided by your company. Could you offer us competitive conditions?
(checkmate)
- ... hmm ... oh, these B - they are such G (thinking out loud is a typical mistake) ... yes, we could provide 6 megabits for 1600 rubles per month.
("Wow! Another 100 rubles cheaper!" - I thought)
- Including VAT?
- Yes
- Need to reconnect something?
- No, just come - we will amend the contract. I will transfer to the technical department to increase your speed from 4 to 6 megabits.
In this case, I acted like a fox, but the Internet for legal entities should be fast and cheap, so my conscience does not torment me. By the way, we also have an agreement with her on mutually beneficial terms.
The benefits of world business sharks may seem ridiculous, but it was one of my first glasses of sour cream repulsed from an enemy in a fair fight on the advice of Kennedy, besides saved for the year (4720 - 1600) rubles * 12 months = 37,440 rubles - the cost of a new one iPhone 4S.
Let me borrow an example - a test from the book. Try to answer it yourself before continuing reading.
An Arab with six camels in search of water stumbles upon an oasis. Another Arab stands next to the source, and a poster with an inscription in Arabic is stuck into the ground: “Water! Drink as much as you want! The price is one camel. ” On which side is the advantage:
a) an Arab with camels;
b) Arabian with water;
c) hard to say?
At first I was discouraged by the formulation of the problem. I tried to put myself in the place of the first Arab and realized that I did not want to give a camel. Mentally, being on the spot of the second, I wanted to get a camel as payment for water from a source. And what, people never differed justice in a question of division of natural riches.
Here you need to give the original correct answer from Kennedy:
a) And how many camels have an Arab with water? Was the sheep frightened ahead of time?
b) And if an Arab with camels is the only one who has a gun? Was the sheep awed again?
c) Correct. Owl will answer that way.
The phrase "read without thinking that there is no chewing," in relation to business literature, I understand how to "read without gaining, that bury money in the sand." Here is an example of using the strategic advantages of my negotiation practice.
A few months ago I found a customer and we started a project for him. In the beginning, only one programmer was required. We agreed to work for $ 20 per hour based on a full day. In a month it is about 20 * 170 = 3400 dollars. After a month and a half, disagreements began to arise. The customer set tight deadlines, the programmer worked 50 hours a week and was very tired. I began to force him out of the office after the expiration of 40 hours, at which the customer rebelled. We decided to use oDesk to account for working time. The $ 22.22 rate and, accordingly, an overpayment of $ 2, 22 cents, did not embarrass the American, who saw that his developer does work 40 hours a week.
After that, the team grew to 2 people, and in a month to 3 people. All used oDesk. After another month and a half, most of the product was ready and the customer decided to leave only one programmer. Contracts of the second and third were closed. I think many people know how important the feedback on the work left by the customer in the oDesk system. I really hoped to get good grades in the profiles of the second and third developers, but when asked to deliver them, the customer replied: “I am in Las Vegas now, we are showing the project to investors today, I will try to find time ..”. Well, good excuse. After waiting three days, I repeated the request. The new answer was "Listen, I tried to leave a review, but I could not find the right button ... come on another time .."
I do not know for what reason the customer did not want to write us feedback. I think this is a good way to keep the contractor on the hook. In fear of getting bad grades, many novice freelancers love working for free.
The advantages were a clear understanding that the customer really appreciated our work at that time and the programmer who remained in the team was the owner of unique knowledge.
I closed his contract. And wrote:
- I think we are doing a good job. The guys would be very nice to get approval from you. Now, when the contract is closed, the desired button should appear.
The day after that, the developer was hired back under the same conditions. All three received a rating of 5/5 and good unique reviews, from the heart written in literary English. In Skype, I listened to a reproach of distrust, to which I replied that we immensely trust the customer and are pleased to continue working for the benefit of his company. What we still do successfully for the past 7 months.
Test from the book:
You are in Bergen (Norway) and want to buy toy trolls for your children. You enter a very expensive souvenir shop selling trolls. The ones you like cost 165 kroons each. You need three. What question you ask the seller:
a) how much will cost two trolls;
b) how many will cost three trolls;
c) what special offer do you have for buying trolls?
This is one of the tests that I successfully failed in the course of mastering the material. Live and learn! How would you answer?
Having acted like a stupid naive donkey, I would have opened my cards and inquired about the price of three trolls. Then the idea seemed good! Here is the answer maestro:
Oh good. Now you can try to get an additional discount on the purchase of three toys. Very fox move!
b) Not too good. Now you have no opportunity in the future to receive a discount on the wholesale purchase. Donkey move.
c) Great, but you, being an Owl, already knew that this was the best move. Perhaps they really have a special offer for trolls, and you should know about it even before you start bargaining for the wholesale price.
Now I always try to get as much information as possible before bargaining. For example, when buying a bike, you can ask:
- Do you have discounts due to the end of the season?
Before demanding a discount for wholesale purchases of bikes for the whole family.
To be honest, in practice I don’t have the heart to act under the scheme a), but buying something in bulk, the conversation with the seller is first about buying one product, and then I usually ask a question
- What will be the discount if I buy N pieces?
It is difficult to answer it so that I did not get my glass of sour cream. It usually works. Unless of course we are not talking about paying for goods at the checkout in the supermarket.
For my part, I will give advice to trolls merchants. If you answer:
- What? Discount for toys? Do you want to save on gifts for your children?
That buyer quickly lays out cash in full and hurries to get out with the trolls, not daring to waste your valuable time.
This is not about probability theory. The idea that rigidly fixed prices do not exist in nature runs through the book through the book. Often we do not know at what price people are willing to buy or sell and make a mistake, immediately offering the most satisfying value to us. Realizing this, I began to try to raise prices for the software development service provided by our company.
Thus, we managed to set a rate of $ 24 per hour on one of the new projects, although we usually work for $ 20- $ 22. We have been cooperating with another customer for two years already and long ago he was asking me for a price of $ 17 / h, arguing that payment is made for a full day, i.e. "wholesale". About a month ago, I wrote to him that the “best” price we can offer from next month is $ 18 / h. He agreed with pleasure. It was necessary to ask for more.
It is important that $ 1 / h is about $ 170 dollars a month, which in translation into rubles is 5000. With this money you can buy 10 delicious cakes and cookies, which we regularly do (yes, I know that you need to lead a healthy lifestyle)
Morality. If you sell mineral water jars at retail, then a discount of 1 ruble, ruthlessly claimed by the manufacturer, can turn into millions of rubles of net profit, and in a short time.
This technique is to convince the seller:
1) Do you really want to buy his item
2) You do not have the resources to accept its original price.
For reasoning about the structure of human psychology and elegant examples of the use of "empty buffet tactics," I refer readers to Kennedy's book. Here I will give one more, for the last one, an example from my own experience.
So, we decided to expand production. Needed a new office. On a warm spring day, I and my partner walked around the city and accidentally wandered into the business center. We were warmly welcomed and showed a few lousy offices, which has become a habitual, but overly depressing fact for me. I note that the average rental price per square in our city is 450 rubles per month excluding utilities. For this price, I looked with two dozen gadyushnikov, which would not have moved his team, even if landlords paid me and not me.
We were about to leave when the office manager said, “We have another option here, but you probably won’t fit. The fact is that there are 400 square meters there ”,“ We ​​needed only 150, but curiosity got the upper hand, he continued - “another IT company worked there, the entire infrastructure remained untouched after them. We would not like to rent a room in parts, therefore we have been unable to find tenants for half a year. ”
When we went there, my salivation process dramatically accelerated. Tall ceilings, elegant repair, server room, meeting room, kitchen, toilets, ventilation, conveniently thrown network for optimal placement of computers ...
I had to make an effort so that the jaw would not fall to the floor. Having made the muzzle with a chopper, I asked - “where does the unpleasant smell in the hallway come from?”. The manager explained that the smell was probably from the carpet and disappears easily.
- How much do you want for the office?
- 350 rubles per meter per month
("So cheap!" I thought)
- hmm ... well, it's too big for us, of course. And what about utilities?
- Included in the price except electricity.
- It's good…
We said that the office is too big, but we like it and took the time to think. On the way home, we phoned the director of a company competing with us and offered a joint move to a new office with the sharing of infrastructure. We ourselves would not have pulled it in any case. When the agreement was reached, I called the business center and said
- We really like your office, but it’s too big for us. The maximum price we could pull is 300 rubles per square meter, including utilities.
- We will think and call you back.
- Thank.
The next day they called. In two weeks we have a move.
Many impressionable people take advice from authoritative authors too literally and begin to apply “principles”, “techniques” and “methods” here and there. So was I, many years ago, after reading Dale Carnegie and having heard Brian Tracy. This leads to mistakes and troubles.
Despite the fact that I advised Kennedy’s book to all my colleagues, who are negotiating and making important decisions for the company, and I advise its readers, I would like to caution. Perhaps, like me, the warning will seem trivial and occident, but do not use such techniques in your personal life. Kennedy says that the best negotiators are children. Often they can claim anything from their parents. When I do something for friends and relatives, I don’t think about the conditions on which I do it, just as I don’t expect to get something in return. I am pleased with the fact that I have benefited those who are not indifferent to me.
Also, due to the kindness and natural softness of character, I cannot apply the techniques from the book, negotiating with my employees about salaries. Here I act according to the subjective assessment of a person’s professional growth. By the way, I think that with strangers could, so if you have any suggestions, write in a personal. Joke. In general, this is not the topic of this article.
As for business negotiations - be calm like a boa constrictor, decisive like a tiger, quick as a lynx, wise like an owl, cunning like foxes and merciless like a shark.
Do not judge for excessive severity and rigor of presentation. Leave my sins analysis for the time being. You will appreciate the beauty of the game. (with)
So, today I want to talk about the book by Professor Gavin Kennedy “You can agree on everything” and how the skill of negotiation helps in professional activities and daily activities. I read the book for quite a long time, but only now a sufficient number of vivid examples has accumulated that the practical tips mentioned in it are effective and work almost without fail.
About the book
Judging by the reviews, experts all over the world consider Gavin Kennedy's work the best textbook on conducting professional negotiations. The material is presented in an interesting game form, replete with practical examples and life situations. According to Kennedy, negotiators are divided into 4 categories:
')
- Donkeys - guided by blind principles, do not analyze the situation, ignore valuable information, stubbornly stand on their opinions and, as a result, often lead to negotiations at a dead end, disrupting the deal.
- Sheep - humbly agree to any conditions of the opponent, make unilateral concessions and enter into unprofitable contracts.
- Foxes - understand well what is happening, gather facts, are distinguished by pragmatism and resourcefulness. When making a transaction, the fox takes into account only its own interests.
- Owls are wise enough to appreciate long-term benefits. Analyze information, looking for all possible ways to enter into contracts that benefit both themselves and the second side.
Of course, this is extreme, and often people combine the character traits of several of the listed characters in different situations. Before each chapter we are waiting for a fascinating test, the results of which we fall into one of the categories. I thought that I had a great deal of experience in negotiating and would like to associate myself with an owl, but as it turned out, sometimes I behave like an ass and sometimes like a sheep.
Oh, if this book fell into my hands 3 years ago! But even now, just a few months after reading it, the time I spent paid off was an order of magnitude. It is remarkable that Gavin Kennedy writes very briefly and to the point. He does not like to pour water, unlike Kiyosaki or Adizes (whose work I, of course, have great respect), so the book does not have a single “extra” text. Moreover, a brief retelling of the main ideas would take no less place than the book itself. In view of the above, I will give examples of only a few of my favorite tricks that I managed to put into practice.
Shuttle talks
They are also called shuttle diplomacy. The main idea pretty well reflects the following bearded joke:
Once Henry Kissinger was asked:
- What is “shuttle diplomacy”?
Kissinger replied:
- ABOUT! This is a universal Jewish method! Let me explain with an example:
You want the method of shuttle diplomacy
marry Rockefeller's daughter to marry
a guy from a russian village.
- How?
- Very simple.
I'm going to the Russian village, I find there is a simple guy
and ask:
- Do you want to marry an American Jewish woman?
- Fuck ?! We and our girls are full.
- Yes. But she is a billionaire daughter!
- ABOUT! It changes things ...
Then I go to Switzerland, to the meeting of the bank and ask:
- Do you want to have a president of the Siberian man?
“Ugh,” they say to me at the bank.
- And if he, at the same time, will be Rockefeller's son-in-law?
- ABOUT! This of course makes a difference!
And yet — yes, I am going home to Rockefeller and asking:
- Want to have a son-in-law Russian peasant?
- What are you saying, in our family everything is financiers!
- And he, just - the president of the Swiss bank!
- ABOUT! It changes things! Susie! Go here. Mr Kissinger found you
groom This is the president of the Swiss Bank!
Susie:
- Phi ... All these financiers are dohlyaks or fagots!
- Yes! But this - a hefty Siberian man!
- Ltd! It changes things!
Please note that deception in negotiations is unacceptable. In the above joke, everyone was happy to get what they wanted. Now I will tell you how this approach helped me reduce the tariff for the Internet connection service three times.
In our office, Internet access is provided by the trunk provider A and provider B, the buying channel from A. Just a year ago, we decided that A was safer and entered into an agreement with them at a price of 4,720 rubles per month, including VAT, for 4 megabits per second.
About three months ago, I learned that one of our neighbors (a person with an active lifestyle, who is able to defend his interests) obtained from provider A the price of 2360 rubles per month, including VAT, for 4 megabits per second.
The first thought was to call provider A, rebel and demand the same price. Fortunately, the years of combat training in the service at the Mathematical Faculty taught me that the task should be taken only after all the initial data have been taken into account. Upon reflection, I realized that this position is not very strong and will cause a negative reaction from the employee from the sales department of provider A. It could scare me all the raspberries.
Then I called provider B and said that provider A provides access to the network at a price of 2000 rubles per month (sometimes you can forget about VAT) for 4 megabits per second:
- Can you offer me something better?
- Yes, of course ... hmm ... for example, will 1,700 rubles suit you?
- Including VAT?
- Yes.
- And could you give 6 megabits per second at this price?
- 6 megabits ... yes, they could!
“How fast could you connect us?”
- Yes, even tomorrow! Only connection will cost 800 rubles.
- Thank! This is a very interesting offer! I'll call you back.
Now my position before the dialogue with provider A was much stronger. Of course, I didn’t want to pay 800 rubles for connection and change A to B, but I preferred to omit these facts as insignificant, preparing for a phone call to office A. Here I must say that half a year ago they laid the money for department K for use. trial version of Photoshop. Probably, by law, they are obliged to monitor the network and report such offenses, but the unpleasant aftertaste remained. I had to get experience in communicating with an employee from the relevant department and buy a license package for 50,000 rubles. And yes, now we use only licensed software. Anticipating retribution, I called:
- Hello
- Sales department of the company A. Hello. How can I help?
- We use your Internet access service at a speed of 4 megabits per second for 4720 rubles per month, and provider B offers us 6 megabits at a price of 1,700 rubles including VAT. We are completely satisfied with the quality of communication provided by your company. Could you offer us competitive conditions?
(checkmate)
- ... hmm ... oh, these B - they are such G (thinking out loud is a typical mistake) ... yes, we could provide 6 megabits for 1600 rubles per month.
("Wow! Another 100 rubles cheaper!" - I thought)
- Including VAT?
- Yes
- Need to reconnect something?
- No, just come - we will amend the contract. I will transfer to the technical department to increase your speed from 4 to 6 megabits.
In this case, I acted like a fox, but the Internet for legal entities should be fast and cheap, so my conscience does not torment me. By the way, we also have an agreement with her on mutually beneficial terms.
The benefits of world business sharks may seem ridiculous, but it was one of my first glasses of sour cream repulsed from an enemy in a fair fight on the advice of Kennedy, besides saved for the year (4720 - 1600) rubles * 12 months = 37,440 rubles - the cost of a new one iPhone 4S.
What is the strength in, brother?
Let me borrow an example - a test from the book. Try to answer it yourself before continuing reading.
An Arab with six camels in search of water stumbles upon an oasis. Another Arab stands next to the source, and a poster with an inscription in Arabic is stuck into the ground: “Water! Drink as much as you want! The price is one camel. ” On which side is the advantage:
a) an Arab with camels;
b) Arabian with water;
c) hard to say?
At first I was discouraged by the formulation of the problem. I tried to put myself in the place of the first Arab and realized that I did not want to give a camel. Mentally, being on the spot of the second, I wanted to get a camel as payment for water from a source. And what, people never differed justice in a question of division of natural riches.
Here you need to give the original correct answer from Kennedy:
a) And how many camels have an Arab with water? Was the sheep frightened ahead of time?
b) And if an Arab with camels is the only one who has a gun? Was the sheep awed again?
c) Correct. Owl will answer that way.
The phrase "read without thinking that there is no chewing," in relation to business literature, I understand how to "read without gaining, that bury money in the sand." Here is an example of using the strategic advantages of my negotiation practice.
A few months ago I found a customer and we started a project for him. In the beginning, only one programmer was required. We agreed to work for $ 20 per hour based on a full day. In a month it is about 20 * 170 = 3400 dollars. After a month and a half, disagreements began to arise. The customer set tight deadlines, the programmer worked 50 hours a week and was very tired. I began to force him out of the office after the expiration of 40 hours, at which the customer rebelled. We decided to use oDesk to account for working time. The $ 22.22 rate and, accordingly, an overpayment of $ 2, 22 cents, did not embarrass the American, who saw that his developer does work 40 hours a week.
After that, the team grew to 2 people, and in a month to 3 people. All used oDesk. After another month and a half, most of the product was ready and the customer decided to leave only one programmer. Contracts of the second and third were closed. I think many people know how important the feedback on the work left by the customer in the oDesk system. I really hoped to get good grades in the profiles of the second and third developers, but when asked to deliver them, the customer replied: “I am in Las Vegas now, we are showing the project to investors today, I will try to find time ..”. Well, good excuse. After waiting three days, I repeated the request. The new answer was "Listen, I tried to leave a review, but I could not find the right button ... come on another time .."
I do not know for what reason the customer did not want to write us feedback. I think this is a good way to keep the contractor on the hook. In fear of getting bad grades, many novice freelancers love working for free.
The advantages were a clear understanding that the customer really appreciated our work at that time and the programmer who remained in the team was the owner of unique knowledge.
I closed his contract. And wrote:
- I think we are doing a good job. The guys would be very nice to get approval from you. Now, when the contract is closed, the desired button should appear.
The day after that, the developer was hired back under the same conditions. All three received a rating of 5/5 and good unique reviews, from the heart written in literary English. In Skype, I listened to a reproach of distrust, to which I replied that we immensely trust the customer and are pleased to continue working for the benefit of his company. What we still do successfully for the past 7 months.
Wholesale purchases
Test from the book:
You are in Bergen (Norway) and want to buy toy trolls for your children. You enter a very expensive souvenir shop selling trolls. The ones you like cost 165 kroons each. You need three. What question you ask the seller:
a) how much will cost two trolls;
b) how many will cost three trolls;
c) what special offer do you have for buying trolls?
This is one of the tests that I successfully failed in the course of mastering the material. Live and learn! How would you answer?
Having acted like a stupid naive donkey, I would have opened my cards and inquired about the price of three trolls. Then the idea seemed good! Here is the answer maestro:
Oh good. Now you can try to get an additional discount on the purchase of three toys. Very fox move!
b) Not too good. Now you have no opportunity in the future to receive a discount on the wholesale purchase. Donkey move.
c) Great, but you, being an Owl, already knew that this was the best move. Perhaps they really have a special offer for trolls, and you should know about it even before you start bargaining for the wholesale price.
Now I always try to get as much information as possible before bargaining. For example, when buying a bike, you can ask:
- Do you have discounts due to the end of the season?
Before demanding a discount for wholesale purchases of bikes for the whole family.
To be honest, in practice I don’t have the heart to act under the scheme a), but buying something in bulk, the conversation with the seller is first about buying one product, and then I usually ask a question
- What will be the discount if I buy N pieces?
It is difficult to answer it so that I did not get my glass of sour cream. It usually works. Unless of course we are not talking about paying for goods at the checkout in the supermarket.
For my part, I will give advice to trolls merchants. If you answer:
- What? Discount for toys? Do you want to save on gifts for your children?
That buyer quickly lays out cash in full and hurries to get out with the trolls, not daring to waste your valuable time.
The law of large numbers
This is not about probability theory. The idea that rigidly fixed prices do not exist in nature runs through the book through the book. Often we do not know at what price people are willing to buy or sell and make a mistake, immediately offering the most satisfying value to us. Realizing this, I began to try to raise prices for the software development service provided by our company.
Thus, we managed to set a rate of $ 24 per hour on one of the new projects, although we usually work for $ 20- $ 22. We have been cooperating with another customer for two years already and long ago he was asking me for a price of $ 17 / h, arguing that payment is made for a full day, i.e. "wholesale". About a month ago, I wrote to him that the “best” price we can offer from next month is $ 18 / h. He agreed with pleasure. It was necessary to ask for more.
It is important that $ 1 / h is about $ 170 dollars a month, which in translation into rubles is 5000. With this money you can buy 10 delicious cakes and cookies, which we regularly do (yes, I know that you need to lead a healthy lifestyle)
Morality. If you sell mineral water jars at retail, then a discount of 1 ruble, ruthlessly claimed by the manufacturer, can turn into millions of rubles of net profit, and in a short time.
Mother Hubbard Buffet
This technique is to convince the seller:
1) Do you really want to buy his item
2) You do not have the resources to accept its original price.
For reasoning about the structure of human psychology and elegant examples of the use of "empty buffet tactics," I refer readers to Kennedy's book. Here I will give one more, for the last one, an example from my own experience.
So, we decided to expand production. Needed a new office. On a warm spring day, I and my partner walked around the city and accidentally wandered into the business center. We were warmly welcomed and showed a few lousy offices, which has become a habitual, but overly depressing fact for me. I note that the average rental price per square in our city is 450 rubles per month excluding utilities. For this price, I looked with two dozen gadyushnikov, which would not have moved his team, even if landlords paid me and not me.
We were about to leave when the office manager said, “We have another option here, but you probably won’t fit. The fact is that there are 400 square meters there ”,“ We ​​needed only 150, but curiosity got the upper hand, he continued - “another IT company worked there, the entire infrastructure remained untouched after them. We would not like to rent a room in parts, therefore we have been unable to find tenants for half a year. ”
When we went there, my salivation process dramatically accelerated. Tall ceilings, elegant repair, server room, meeting room, kitchen, toilets, ventilation, conveniently thrown network for optimal placement of computers ...
I had to make an effort so that the jaw would not fall to the floor. Having made the muzzle with a chopper, I asked - “where does the unpleasant smell in the hallway come from?”. The manager explained that the smell was probably from the carpet and disappears easily.
- How much do you want for the office?
- 350 rubles per meter per month
("So cheap!" I thought)
- hmm ... well, it's too big for us, of course. And what about utilities?
- Included in the price except electricity.
- It's good…
We said that the office is too big, but we like it and took the time to think. On the way home, we phoned the director of a company competing with us and offered a joint move to a new office with the sharing of infrastructure. We ourselves would not have pulled it in any case. When the agreement was reached, I called the business center and said
- We really like your office, but it’s too big for us. The maximum price we could pull is 300 rubles per square meter, including utilities.
- We will think and call you back.
- Thank.
The next day they called. In two weeks we have a move.
Nothing personal?
Many impressionable people take advice from authoritative authors too literally and begin to apply “principles”, “techniques” and “methods” here and there. So was I, many years ago, after reading Dale Carnegie and having heard Brian Tracy. This leads to mistakes and troubles.
Despite the fact that I advised Kennedy’s book to all my colleagues, who are negotiating and making important decisions for the company, and I advise its readers, I would like to caution. Perhaps, like me, the warning will seem trivial and occident, but do not use such techniques in your personal life. Kennedy says that the best negotiators are children. Often they can claim anything from their parents. When I do something for friends and relatives, I don’t think about the conditions on which I do it, just as I don’t expect to get something in return. I am pleased with the fact that I have benefited those who are not indifferent to me.
Also, due to the kindness and natural softness of character, I cannot apply the techniques from the book, negotiating with my employees about salaries. Here I act according to the subjective assessment of a person’s professional growth. By the way, I think that with strangers could, so if you have any suggestions, write in a personal. Joke. In general, this is not the topic of this article.
As for business negotiations - be calm like a boa constrictor, decisive like a tiger, quick as a lynx, wise like an owl, cunning like foxes and merciless like a shark.
Do not judge for excessive severity and rigor of presentation. Leave my sins analysis for the time being. You will appreciate the beauty of the game. (with)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/141702/
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