The meeting was set to meet with an important new (and large) European client. We were all prepared to put on our best and most compelling presentation with visions of a big new account in our future.
But, it was not to be. They threw us a curve right off the bat.
First, they wanted to give us a brief presentation on their company and how the process for securing outside services worked within their company. In fact, they insisted.
We agreed somewhat reluctantly, as we couldn’t really refuse could we? (first mistake)
Then they proceeded to spend an hour on a very well-rehearsed, convincing monologue which laid out their purchasing procedure and why they were firmly limited to only a certain size budget and more. They were polite and nice enough about it, but the result was that the wind was completely taken out of our sails.
Their “final budget” was about one-half of what we hoped and knew they needed.
After they finished apologizing for what they knew was a big disappointment for us, we got up and did our presentation; somewhat half-heartedly because it seemed doomed from the beginning. (second mistake)
We even cut our budget for their project by 30% right off the bat, in an attempt to appease them. (third mistake)
To our surprise, they seemed willing to look at the possibility of doing business if we could just cut a little more out of our price. Which we agreed to go along with. (fourth mistake).
In the end, we got the business and THEY were very happy. We got skunked. They out-negotiated us, big time. I’m certain this process was a template that they had rehearsed and practiced many times before meeting with us.
In fact, much later I was involved with a presentation with this same company. And they pulled the exact same thing as the first time I “caught their act.” They template was working . . . why change it?
The negotiations always seemed to go to the side that was better prepared, rehearsed and that had a definite playbook to follow. They had plans and backup plans and even more contingency plans to cope with anything we came up with. We simply got outplayed by a vastly more experienced and trained group of negotiators.
The experience was painful and expensive, but we did learn something:
Don’t go into any negotiation or closing situation unprepared for everything that can come up.
Drill every possibility and have a solution for anything that might arise.
If you assume that anything that could go wrong, will go wrong and prepare accordingly, you’ll have a chance to stay in the game and even close the deal.
Remember it’s a tough, cutthroat game when it gets down to the fine print and money is in play. And if you look around the negotiating table and realize that you’re the most inexperienced one there, watch out! Because, if you can’t spot the sucker . . . you’re it!
daniel w. jacobs
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