This is a true story. Only names have been changed.
Wendy sells soap she manufactures to B&Bs and boutique hotels. She started her business at home but recently purchased a small warehouse and installed new machinery bought on credit. She owed a great deal but was certain she would be able to recoup the costs within two years.
She was particularly taken with a new fragrance one of her friends brought back from Egypt. She purchased this expensive ingredient and sold this new fragrance to several large boutique hotels who are always keen to offer their wealthy clients something new.
Within four days she received a letter from a client claiming significant damages as it is claimed that one of their guests had experienced burning pain while showering.
The demand was for £30,000 and three months’ supply of an alternative product, or to face the publicity of a court case.
Wendy asked for time as she and her daughter had both used the product and loved it. In addition, she had received several favourable responses from other hotels.
After consulting Negotiations World she sent the product for chemical analysis and the results showed it contained no ingredient which could cause pain or damage to skin. She then replied to the boutique hotel ignoring their two adverse claims and provided proof in the form of the certification provided by the testing laboratory.
A wonderfully descriptive name was given to this unethical trick by the negotiating guru Dr Gavin Kennedy.
The story goes that as a German soldier, your officer could force you to do something you believed to be wrong by threatening to send you to the Russian Front if you did not comply.
If you don’t give us a 10% discount we will go out to tender.
In negotiations this is accomplished by offering two unpalatable outcomes one worse than the other. The intension is that you should select the least damaging of two evils. The Russian Front provides pain against which any alternative sounds wonderful.
The Lesson
Ignore your opponent’s two demands and begin by stating your most favourable position and negotiate from a position of strength.