Mike
Carruthers:
Sooner or later you're going to have to deal with
a giant, a big company, a big agency or your employer.
Peter Johnston:
Where it will be the difference between resounding success and resounding failure
for you. Whether that's trying to get into a university if you go back to school,
whether it's dealing with a doctor that you have to convince to give you the care
that you want. Peter
Johnston, author of the book Negotiating
With Giants, says critical to all negotiations with giants is to slow down. Stay
away from the negotiation table as long as possible. You have to plan away from
the table to make sure that once you get to the table you've evened the playing
field somewhat. So, you need to network and infiltrate your giants so that you
know more about their interests and plans. And
Peter says, in dealing with a giant, if you don't ask for it you'll never get
it. In consumer
situations we see smaller players who are incredibly effective in getting what
they want because they'll first ask at one level and then they will politely escalate
it to another level until they get answer they want. So, the squeaky wheel approach
can be effective. And
before any negotiation, Peter says, you have to understand your giant's point
of view. Finding
out what your giant cares about, what it's main interests are rather than thinking
just about your interests. You have to see it from their perspective.
At
somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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