Negotiate a "Win-Win" Every Time!

North & Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce Retail & Services

Post-purchase-cognitive-dissonance. One of the greatest sounding hyphenated words in business language history. In short, it simply means "buyer's remorse" we've all had it, and some of us may have even played a part in delivering it. ouch.

There is an art to negotiation where both buyer and seller depart with a sense of "winning", both walk away happy, and both are eager to do business with each other again. That is a win-win situation in pure simplicity!

I remember my first trip to India about 15 years ago. Our group was escorted by a local Naga through the markets of Dimapur and I was looking to buy my girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife a genuine silk sari. I looked everywhere for the right one at the right price. Finally, in Dimapur at a little kiosk in a labryinth of trinket sellers, I found the perfect sari. The only problem being that it was on the other side of an angry Naga shopkeeper.

The price was 800 rupees (roughly $20 at the time) and being a broke, cheapskate University graduate on a budget, I didn't really have 800 rupees to spend. I tried to sheepishly ask if the price was "final" and after interpretation, he wagged his head 'yes'.

Our local guide told me to bargain harder with the man or he would lose respect for me. I didn't know what that meant. So the guide said, "Slap the amount of money you want to pay down on the counter, pick up the sari, and walk away." No way - that style of negotiation will get you jail time where I come from.

My grid-lock was causing this shop keeper to grow impatient, angrily shouting in what I think was Hindi, to pay his price. The guide was yelling at me to follow his negotiation tactics, and now my colleagues started harrasing me to hurry up so we could move on.

I panicked and slammed my 400 rupees on the counter, picked up the sari, and walked quickly away from the angry shopkeeper. He immediately chased me from around the counter, half my size but scaring the living daylights out of me. I was sure he was going to call the police.

My heart was pounding, he was furiously chasing, I turned to give him a "Sorry-I'm-just-a-dumb-American" look...and to my surprise, instead of inflicting violence or calling the authorities, he gave me a big semi-toothed smile and asked (in Hindi) if I would pose for a pic with him for his friends! Of course I would.

Successful negotiation. He made a sale on terms he was happy with, I bought a beautiful silk sari that my wife would wear only once in 15 years and we both walked away feeling as though we'd "won".

Although the above negotiation tactics won't be taught at our course, we still believe that the art of successful negotiation can be taught and not "caught". Join us at the Chamber Training Centre for our "Powerful Negotiation Skills: Achieving a Win-Win" course 4th October. Learn how to put together deals that earn you a lifelong client or contract.

To book on, contact me at the Chamber Training Centre 01253 347 063 or via email training @ lancschamber.co.uk and we'll reserve you a place. (We might even negotiate the price down a few rupees for you!)