Every word below is true, excepting for the names.
Jim, a good pal of mine, is an ace negotiator. Every Saturday morning, he and his daughter Sam purchase flowers at the city centre flower market. When the sales staff see Jim coming, they make themselves scarce as they know that every week he will pull some or other negotiations trick on them.
Pete, the rather corpulent owner of all except four of the stalls at the flower market serves Jim each week. He is forever complaining about children fiddling with or breaking the windscreen wipers on the headlights of his Rolls. Pete still sells flowers every Saturday morning just as he had since the age of eleven despite owning a massive flower wholesale warehouse. He says it keeps him in touch with the public.
One sunny late spring Saturday morning Jim and Sam arrived and began examining all the buckets of flowers at the stall where they could always find Pete.
Pete greeted them affably and discussed the weather. Jim told Pete he needed to buy a big bunch of flowers. Pete asked him how much he would like to spend. He said £10. Jim said £10 would not buy a big bunch but he would see what he could do. He started making a bunch with lots of greenery and relatively cheap flowers. After a while he said that what he had in his hand was worth £10. Jim did not argue but said he needed a much bigger bunch. Pete did not move but waited and eventually Jim found another £5 in his pocket. Pete started adding to the bunch. At this stage Sam started making her own bunch taking the best spring flowers from the high-priced buckets. She watched Pete and ensured that her bunch was never more than half the size of the bunch in Pete’s arms.
Jim ‘discovered’ another £5 on two more occasions until Pete’s bunch was so big, he could hardly keep it under one arm. By then Sam’s bunch was also large but less than half the size of that in Pete’s arms.
Jim said “So for this size bunch you want £25. Is that right? Pete said it was. Jim asked him the same question again and Pete agreed again. Jim pushed the £25 into Pete’s hands and said “In that case we will take this bunch” as he pointed to the much smaller bunch of beautiful spring flowers in Sam’s arms and the two of them turned and walked away.
There was silence and then a roar of exasperation followed by the sounds of the entire bunch which Pete had been holding being thrown to the ground. He bellowed “Why don’t you take them all. Take them all. You got them all for f…. nothing anyway!”
The lesson
Always ensure you fully understand the offer your opponent is making. , either by error or deliberate omission, what you see is not what you get!