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How To Use Gambits To Negotiate Yourself A Better Deal

By Bob Malloney

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 05Oct2009 Word count: 835 Viewed: 305 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

When negotiating, we can use Gambits as manoeuvres for advantage to get us as close as possible to our ideal position, whilst still leaving the other party feeling as if they've got a reasonable deal too. So use these techniques to your advantage and, perhaps as importantly, recognise when someone is using these techniques on you. So let's have a look at the gambits people use.

Nibble

The nibble is one of the most used of all of the gambits. You may have seen this used when you go to buy a car. You've done the deal, so you think, and the salesperson starts asking you about warranties, servicing deals, mats to go into your car. For just a little extra money you can have this, you can have that. The deal you have already struck is being slowly nibbled away and gradually what you are buying and the price you are paying is changing.

You are at your most vulnerable during a negotiation when you are close to, or at, the agreement stage. This is because you are likely to be feeling good. You are close to agreement after a long, hard, slog; you're close to getting what you wanted. So it's easier for the other party to creep up on you unawares and include things that really should have been covered earlier. When this happens, don't be afraid to say something like "I'm surprised these items are extra - I assumed they were included - perhaps we need to look at the whole deal again".

Hot potato

This is where the buyer will try and put a problem with the negotiation onto the seller and this normally happens at the start of a negotiation. For example, when buying a house, a purchaser may specify to the Estate Agent the sort of house they want and in what location, but put a top limit on it of $200,000. They've just passed a hot potato to the Estate Agent. They're saying you can find a house for me but I want it to be a bargain; I'm trying to improve my negotiating position before we've even started. The smart Estate Agent will spot he has been passed a vegetable and test just how hot this particular one is by saying something like, '...and if I found what you were looking for at $225,000, are you saying that you wouldn't be interested?' As the buyer, do your homework first; know the value of what you want to purchase. As the seller, the important thing is to spot the potato.

Higher authority

You might use this gambit when you are close to agreement and something like price is the problem. You might try something like, 'I hoped we could agree at $5,000 because, if the price goes above that, I'll have to get approval from my finance committee.' The aim, of course, is to force agreement to avoid any further delays.

You can use a touch of amateur psychology here. You can make it seem as though you are on their side saying something like, 'I'll do my best to get the agreement of my finance committee, but...'

People are sometimes quite reticent about using this ploy as it implies that they do not have the authority to complete the deal and no one likes to pretend that they have less authority than they really do. Swallow your pride and save some cash!

This is a great one to use personally. Our spouses use it all of the time when sales people come to the door or telephone. 'Oh, I couldn't make a decision on that without asking my partner first', is a great ploy to get unwanted sales people off your back.

Funny money

With this gambit you endeavour to make your price sound more attractive than it is. It's like lying with statistics. You attempt to disguise the real situation. So what you would do, for example, is to tell a customer that you were going to have a general price increase from $100 per hour to $120 per hour but because they were such a valuable customer and did this or that or the other, you were only going to increase their price to $110 per hour. The bad news is that there has been a price increase; the good news is that they got a $10 per hour discount.

So play around with your figures. Put them forward in a way that sounds most attractive to your customer. Link it to the benefits that they are going to get. And, of course, look out for people trying the funny money gambit on you. Remember it's the total cost that counts; what cash is going to leave your business, not any complicated per head calculation.

Use these Gambits whenever you can, you'll be surprised at just how effective they can be in helping you to get a better deal. Recognise when somone uses these Gambits on you, see them for what they are and preserve your position.

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