Counter one of the classic negotiating gambits by addressing it directly.

You¡¯ve assembled a brilliant sales proposal for a new client and when you arrive to the meeting to hammer out the final details, you suddenly find yourself sitting across the table negotiating with two people. One is a person with whom you¡¯ve had contact during the sales process; the other is new ¨C a purchasing agent.

The former is characteristically warm, gracious, and quite friendly to your proposal. The latter is hard-nosed, aloof, and completely opposed to nearly every one of your positions. They are playing the classic negotiating tactic of ¡®good guy ¨C bad guy.¡¯

In the audiobook, ¡°Sound Advice on Negotiating Skills,¡± author Roger Dawson says that when buyers use good guy ¨C bad guy, they are counting on the salesperson being drawn to the good guy. Psychologically, the salesperson wants to please him or her by making concessions.

The solution, says Dawson ¨C a renowned speaker and author of the book, ¡°Secrets of Power Negotiating¡± ¨C is to ¡°counter their tactic by letting them know that you realize what they¡¯re doing. It¡¯s such as well known negotiating tactic that when you say to them, ¡®Oh come on, you¡¯re not going to play good guy, bad guy with me, are you?¡¯ they become embarrassed they were caught and will back off.¡±

Roger Dawson offers negotiating skills advice each week in the free audio newsletter from What¡¯s Working in Biz, http://www.whatsworking.biz/full_story.asp?ArtID=92

About The Author

Richard Cunningham is a principal of What¡¯s Working in Biz, http://www.whatsworking.biz, a publisher of business audiobooks and online audio programs on marketing, sales, and small business strategies.