Essentials for Government Contract Negotiators

Chapter 24

The Empty Pockets Tactic

Have you ever played the board game Monopoly? Remember how exciting it was to land on “Chance” and draw from that orange deck of cards? Most were good, but some would cost you money. One of the bad ones told you to pay a “poor tax.” It had a picture of a very sad-looking man holding his pockets inside-out with his fingers, showing you he had nothing in them. He was showing you empty pockets.

The empty pockets tactic is simply confronting the other side with the fact that you have reached the limit of your negotiation flexibility, usually because you have run out of budget headroom. You’ll say something like, “You know, I really thought we could get this deal put together, but at the prices you’re demanding, ...