Win Win Sucks: Never Compromise in Negotiation

Written by on April 15, 2020 / Inside BS Podcast

It happens all the time.

You think you have a solid deal with the client and all of a sudden, something changes and either they want more, or they want to pay less or both. Their expectation is you’ll just agree because you’re already emotionally invested in the deal. They want you to just drop the price. What do you do? We address that with specific solutions on this episode of The Do This Sell More Show. Season 2 Show 8 Episode 130

There is a school of thought that says you should always help the other side win in a negotiation. They call this win/win negotiating. That strategy sucks.

The first rule of any negotiation is to define what “winning” looks like.  In business, winning is exchanging value for value – usually a product, a service or an experience for money.  Often your counterpart in a negotiation will think you have flexibility in your pricing. In reality you don’t because you have made a profit margin commitment to your stakeholders.  So in many business negotiations winning is closing a deal at a certain profit.

Instead of compromise, exchange value.

If the client wants a lower price, you have three options:

Reframe: Increase value and go higher than the original price. This will shock your counterpart because he expected something different.

Reduce value: You can meet the persons’ desired investment if you deliver less than they want. Everything has a value. If they want the total solution the need to make the total investment.

Walk away and scrap the deal. Sometimes you can walk away and replace the value you would have received from another source. This might mean having an alternate supplier. It might mean finding another customer. It definitely means adjusting your mindset to never need any single deal at any particular time.  Nobody likes to lose out on a deal. Nobody likes to leave money on the table. But if someone is not willing to work with you on your terms, you have to be ready willing and able to walk away.