Negotiating with Backbone: Eight Sales Strategies to Defend Your Price and Value

8. Negotiating with Poker Players

Poker players are value- or relationship-buyers in price buyer disguise. Their intent in acting like a price buyer is to force the negotiation into a bluffing situation that will benefit the buyer at the expense of the seller. Poker players are tricky. They are as much in it for the game as for the discounts they aim to extract. They dress up as price buyers to get the preferred vendor to drop price. They block access to the decision maker. Poker players want endless discounts and hope you will give in. Since the Great Recession these buyers have become even more prevalent. Companies are working hard to cut costs, so why not demand more from vendors? The poker playing is generally handled by procurement. Many ...