The Weekly Walkaway highlights negotiation in its ‘good’, ‘bad’ and sometimes ‘downright ugly’ forms. Issue No. 118 (12th September 2025)
Happy Friday Walkawayers.. and so we are back to The 47 Negotiation Tactics and this week I have a tactic story for ya enjoyment.. and at my expense, cos not every story ends with a hero moment.
Years back, I mean way back.. I remember a negotiation that causes me to feel sick with failure again and again.
I was running on caffeine and adrenaline.. neither a good mix when negotiating, but I was under pressure. Pressure from above and pressure at home, if you know what I mean..
This was gonna be the big one!
I’d been burning the candle at both ends, working hard on a pitch for a full commercial talent solution to a large Financial Exchange in London: sourcing, onboarding, training, reporting and market data. A complete, interlocking model.
For its time it was very elegant.. if I dare say myself.
And expensive.
The client was known for aggressive power tactics and I remember bricking it.
Across the table sat Anita (name changed to protect the innocent), the clients Strategic Workforce Director and her panel or stakeholders and procurement.
She had been charming in the lead up to the RFP but you could tell she was sharp and deadly to a young whelp like me.
The presentation went well, I thought.. I practiced that bit.. and all the while she had flicked through my proposal, smiling to herself;
“We’re interested in knowing more about the reporting and market data, what's the cost breakdown?”
I remember meekly, yet enthusiastically, answering all of her questions.. Pulling from me a cost breakdown across all of my options. She picked my menu apart..
After a while, a long dark silent while.. she had looked up;
“We’ve got a sourcing partner in process who is more cost sensitive and an alternate training and onboarding provider whose numbers are far more favourable. But we could carve out the market data piece.. and, hmm.. possibly use your reporting piece as a standalone.”
And there it was..
The Cherry Picker.
I tried to keep my face neutral but that triple shot americano had triggered a level of anxiety I’d not experienced before.. and although I now know I should have flinched and let my face say;
‘are you f’ing stupid’..
I didn't.
I know what I should have done.. now.. but that is today.. and back then I didn't…
What I did do was stutter and nervously say;
“hmm.. just so I’m clear.. you’d like to remove the parts that fund the model?”
I still remember her smile, her lazy nod, and her saying;
“We just want our suppliers to be flexible and cooperative.”
I’m screaming inside.. she wants the whole cake and the cherry on top and all wrapped up as a gift! What the hell! I can't agree this..
I remember looking out of the window waiting for an answer that was never gonna come..
I panicked.
Yeah.. Nah.. I’m sorry.. There is no hero moment here.
I was young and inexperienced.
She had fleeced me of all information. She had cherry picked and got our cost price breakdown across all of the issues and their options..
.. and I had gifted it to her and got nothing in return.
I left with nothing apart from an uncomfortably soaking wet shirt and a sticky sick feeling of failure!
Years later I was fortunate enough to work alongside a recruitment GOAT who became my mentor, Phil.
Phil had been one of the other suppliers bidding for the same business. He had in fact won it.. All of it!
How..?
Some of us are lucky to have these rare moments in our careers where we are able to speak freely and reflect. They are so powerful..
Because rarely, if ever at all, are you ever able to analyse a negotiation and ask; how did I do? How much more could I have got? Or; what could I have done differently?
Phil, unlike myself, had been ready. He was wise and fully prepped.
Anita had tried the same tactics on him. She had requested a cost breakdown and had repackaged his proposal with all the best bits she had got from ‘us’, the other suppliers. He had neither given a breakdown nor allowed any Cherry Picking. He had taken a different approach, and had said;
“We can flex if the scope remains whole but each piece is connected and conditionally linked. If we take out one piece we’ll need to recalculate the value and reconnect elsewhere which will increase the cost to you..”
He’d also made it very clear that:
“... nothing would be agreed until everything was agreed, as a total package.”
Phil had flexed his pricing, kept the variables conditionally linked and repackaged the deal.
He won the business and I learnt;
never give a cost breakdown;
ensure everything is conditional, and that;
nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.
What was the most important lesson you learnt from being hit by a negotiation tactic?