Practical Negotiating: Tools, Tactics & Techniques

Strategies for Making Concessions

In addition to the previous key considerations, other strategies for making concessions include:

• Always get something in return. If done for goodwill, acknowledge it. One of the classic errors made by inexperienced negotiators involves giving something to the other side in the interest of maintaining goodwill in the relationship but not labeling the offer. Skillful negotiators will label their concession: “I’m doing this in the interest of goodwill” or “In order to keep things moving, I’m willing to . . .”

• Look for elegant concessions (i.e., low cost/high value). Before making a concession, analyze the value of your currencies by assessing the cost to purchase the same item separately. In many cases, service contracts on electronics or other consumer goods can provide a customer with peace of mind while providing a high margin gain for the store. As demonstrated in the creative currencies exercise described earlier in this chapter, the currencies we control may have a much higher value to the other party than we realize. The secret is to analyze the other’s needs and make appropriate concessions that are low cost to you, but high value to the other.

• Agonize where appropriate. In the enthusiasm to make the deal, salespeople sometimes make the error of offering a concession by saying “Sure we can do that for you.” Even though it might be easy to engineer, the best approach is to hesitate and say, “I’m not sure I can do that, let me check to see what ...