Q & A Table of Contents
Take It Or Leave It
From: Liew, Singapore
Question: What do we do when a customer says:" $x--take it or leave."
Response: First, it is crucial for you to have done your homework so that you have a sense of the range of prices that makes sense for you or your company.
Second, you have to ask your customer 'Why?'. However, if you simply ask 'Why?' at best you are likely to receive an answer that simply justifies the price s/he has named. So you need to ask more subtle questions to learn what interests lie behind the customer's approach.
- Can they do business with your competitors, with price as the fundamental determinant?
- Does the customer have some personal issues at stake: his/her ego? orders from the boss? need to meet a quarterly quota?
- Are there other issues beyond price that deserve attention: quality, delivery time, an ongoing or new business relationship, the extent to which your product will fulfill the customer's needs?
- What is your BATNA, your Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement? Do you need this customer for reasons similar to the issues raised in points 2 and 3?
- What would happen if you ask your customer, "Then from what you are saying, am I to understand you do not consider it is in your interest to make a deal with me?"
In order to prepare for a customer from whom you expect this sort of response, or for any negotiation for that matter, you should look to your interests, those of your customer or customer's representative, and to the interests of both of your constituencies, the stakeholders in the deal. This sort of preparation will help you develop a negotiation strategy focused on the questions you need to ask and the information you need to derive in the negotiation process in order to make the kinds of proposals or responses most likely to satisfy the most important interests of the stakeholders.
Good luck,
Steve
| 
