The following story is true. Only names have been changed.
Inland Revenue had been harassing Paul for three years to pay them £34,000 plus interest.
A previous employer which became bankrupt had not paid the PAYE which they had deducted from Paul’s salary to IR. While he had payslips to prove the company had deducted the PAYE, the company records had disappeared, and IR told him they could not therefore verify that the company had received the PAYE from Paul. Nor could they discover from their own records that the PAYE in question had been paid to them. IR therefore expected Paul to, in effect, double pay PAYE. For years he had not replied to their letters or replied plead poverty.
An IR representative let’s call him Tim, phoned Paul and asked him to attend a meeting at their London office the following Wednesday. While trying to agree a time slot for the meeting Tim importantly told Paul he had a packed day meeting people who IR had been pursuing for years and that he just hoped he could catch the 16:30 express back to Newcastle the same day. He requested Paul not to be late as they would only have 20 minutes for their meeting. They agreed to meet at 10h10.
He told Paul to bring his cheque book as there would be no negotiation and that he would be expected to make payment in full or arrange payment terms.
By coincidence, on the Wednesday morning in question Paul met Alan Whitaker the CEO of Negotiations World at a breakfast network group meeting in Hampstead, London. When Alan heard of Paul’s predicament, he insisted they immediately leave the meeting and meet separately. They examined the situation from all angles and decided to use a Delay, Delay and Refuse and Refuse Strategy.
He asked Paul to immediately phone Tim and explain that he could not meet him that day unless they met at 15:45. Tim reluctantly agreed noting that we would only have 15 minutes for the meeting.
Following instructions, Paul arrived 7 minutes late. Tim was glad to see Paul but noted that he needed to leave at 16:07. So far so good. Now for Plan B.
Paul engaged Tim, as instructed, in small talk for as long as possible. When eventually Tim turned the topic to payment of the account Paul used up several minutes telling the story of his ‘unjust harassment ‘by IR and then said, ‘So I am not going to pay PAYE twice.’ Tim tried threats of court action and Paul continued just to say ‘No, I am not going to pay PAYE twice.’ Then he tried offering a settlement of ‘only £20,000’, then less but Paul kept on saying ‘No, I am not going to pay twice. At 16h05 Tim left to catch his train and did so with a parting shot that ‘I will write to you’.
A week later Paul phoned Alan and told him that he had received a letter from IR saying the file had been closed and there would be no further claim on him. When Alan chuckled, Paul asked him why he had been so sure the Delay, Delay and Refuse and Refuse Strategy would work and he explained that when faced with Big Stick authority you can sometimes win by understanding the motivations of the officials who are harassing you.
In this case Tim had let on that he was coming to London to settle with a number of long-term defaulters. This meant his boss had probably delegated this job to him and mandated him to settle these long outstanding cases one way or another. By the end of the day he would probably have been tired of fighting round after round with these debtors, and using the threat of legal action he probably would have succeeded in settling of most of them so that by the end of the day he had probably already achieved his objective or target for the day and would, if faced with a determined refusal repeated again and again and his train deadline, recommend closing the file to his boss. And so it came to be!
The Lesson
- Never disclose a deadline or time-limit. It might be used against you.
- If you are aware of a deadline, you can exploit the time pressure on the opposition by just saying ‘No’ to any proposal they put on the table but simultaneously recommending the deal you want.
- Never under-rate your position.
- Ask questions and evaluate what you hear to try to understand the personal motivations of your opponent.
- Get the best advice on negotiations strategy and tactics from a seasoned professional.