The Negotiation Guru

This is my favorite tactic. I like to see the drama. Some of them are so bad at acting that they suck at deploying this good cop/bad cop tactic.

Have you gotten two people across the negotiating table with 2 very different perspectives?

The “good cop” starts off with a very friendly tone and tries to build rapport with you. He is so nice that you can almost feel that he is trying to negotiate FOR you and not AGAINST you.

“Yes, what you have proposed is really brilliant. I think my company should agree with your proposal.”

Just when you feel that this deal is going somewhere, a “bad cop” starts to interject.

“No! This is too outrageous. We can’t do this deal. Our company will make a huge loss if we agree to these terms.”

He seemingly tries to convince the “good cop” that it is a really bad deal. What the “bad cop” is trying to do is to lower your expectations. They are trying to anchor you. Be very aware when the other party starts to anchor you. This can also happen when they start to make extreme offers.

This movie drama starts to go back and forth. The good cop and bad cop start to disagree with each other. You get confused and start to lose focus. What should you do?

Call out this tactic to them.

“It seems to me that one of you is playing the angel and the other guy the devil. You know, I cannot negotiate with 2 people at the same time. So who is the final decision maker in this negotiation? Who has more authority?”

Find the decision maker and deal with him alone. You often get consultants, accountants and lawyers alongside with the person you are negotiating with. Ignore them. Just deal with the “big guy”. Request that you want to negotiate this alone with the decision maker.

“I like to negotiate this with you in private, without the white noise in the background.”

Remember: Call out the tactic. Deal directly with the decision maker only.