Tom sent this to me. Nice timing Tom...
When Is a Good Deal Too Good?
By Michael Masterson
When negotiating a deal, how hard should you push for an advantage? Should you play the competition game and get as much as you can? Or should you "take care of" the other guy, even if he isn't taking care of himself?
What should you do if you discover a benefit or cost in the deal that the other guy isn't aware of? Do you bring it up? Or figure "If he's too stupid to notice, he doesn't deserve to find out."
If your resources and position in the marketplace give you a substantial negotiating position over the other guy - if he needs you more than you need him - should you take advantage of it?
Let's answer these questions today.
I do business with a lot of very accomplished businesspeople - entrepreneurs and executives who understand how business really works. They have learned the importance of going after new business, and have developed the personal skills to apply themselves aggressively toward that end.
Some of these people, however, allow this virtue to become a vice. When they negotiate deals, they focus all their energy on themselves and their goals. If they think of the other guy at all, it is only to discover a weakness they can take advantage of.
These guys can be great family men and loyal friends - but when it comes to doing business, they believe in taking care of Number One. And for them, because of the way they see business, taking care of Number One means caring little or nothing about the other guy.
Some of these guys are just plain evil. They like screwing people and take pleasure from giving others pain. But many more see themselves as just and moral but with a "realistic" view of the business world. For this group - let's call them the self-righteous sharks - business is an "either-or" proposition: "Either I get the gold or he does."
Self-righteous sharks tend to act selfishly in all facets of their business life - in sharing information, in deciding at whose office a meeting will be held, in determining who sits where at a business dinner, etc.
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1 comment:
There isn't much integrity out in the corporate world. I have a friend who worked for IBM for many years. He tells the story of how they were making a bid on a job against their major competitor. While he was in his bosses office he noticed on the desk a copy of the proposal from the competitor. His boss told him, "yeah, we got a copy of their bidand we are going to beat it." How he got it is anyones guess, but this is what happens everyday in cooperate America.
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