Your Weekly Walkaway - A negotiators most important tool; The Flinch.
Newsletter Issue No. 4 (7th October 2022)
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The Weekly Walkway highlights negotiation in its ‘good’, ‘bad’ and sometimes ‘downright ugly’ forms. What to expect?
Tactic of the Week - The Professional Flinch!
Thought of the Week - Why the professional ‘Flinch’ is a Negotiator’s best friend.
Your Week - Open Extreme and Flinch. Simple.
Their Week - Seriously, give us a break’ – marketers unimpressed by touted cost of Netflix ads
Quote of the Week - yup, exactly what it says.
Remember: You are a negotiator!
You are always managing some form of conflict, a difference in opinion or interest.
TACTIC OF THE WEEK
The Professional Flinch
After making an offer your counterpart signals with both verbal and non-verbal language that your offer is ridiculous. They do this to undermine your confidence in your own approach and to increase your sense of satisfaction as their flinches reduce across the course of the negotiation.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
Flinch at everything…
The dictionary definition of a ‘Flinch’ is to “Make a quick, nervous movement as an instinctive reaction to fear, pain, or surprise.”
Verb (used without object) to draw back or shrink, as from what is dangerous, difficult, or unpleasant. To shrink under pain; wince. To draw back or withdraw from.
Consider this.
When your child does something wrong, bad or inappropriate, what face do you pull?
Disappointed?
Shock?
Frustrated?
That face, those many different faces, that non verbal reaction to their behaviour is, in negotiation terms, your flinch.
Now consider this.
When your counterpart does something wrong, bad or inappropriate to you, your organisation, your interests, what do you do? Pull a face, flinch, or remain dead-pan, poker faced?
If you don’t react, if you don’t flinch, what are you not saying? Actually, what are you saying to them?
Yes, I can pay that price;
Yes, I can accept those terms;
Yes, I have behaved inappropriately;
You must Flinch.
You must flinch at everything, even if ‘it’ is acceptable to you. You must flinch.
If you do not flinch or if you stop flinching, it tells the other party you find their actions acceptable.
Consciously or not they observe and deduce how acceptable their actions are to you. If you don't flinch they perceive that they do not need to move or change. This can leave you in a very difficult situation.
Imagine they have opened with an extreme position on price. This position is unacceptable to you. But, you don’t Flinch. They will perceive that it is acceptable! This means they wont move, perceiving they have opened too fairly, and not wanting to be exploited by you they stop and become stubborn. As you can’t move, they now consider you arrogant and any relationship you may have had or wanted will be eroded. No flinch and you may in fact force a warm relationship to become cold.
To be an effective negotiator you need to send nonverbal messages to make your counterpart think ‘what you want them to think you feel’… that you are shocked, angry, embarrassed, disappointed (with them) with their proposals or with what they are saying or doing. When in fact you may not be. This is your Flinch. You are using your flinch to control the way they feel.
You can even use your flinch to make them doubt themselves or their positions! Your flinch is a very powerful tool.
Watch, observe your counterparty next time. Observe their flinch and remind yourself that their flinch is only their to make you feel that you are behaving inappropriately and that your question or proposal is stupid. They flinch to make you doubt yourself.
Flinch. Flinch at everything.
YOUR WEEK
Open Extreme and Flinch. Simple.
I’ve just completed a negotiation. €multi million. I opened much more extreme than I normally would have done. For the first time, they actually flinched. It showed I had been within their ZOPA before. I flinched at their counter, moved but didn't give anything without getting what I wanted in return. It worked. Such a simple process. Thank you.
THEIR WEEK
‘Seriously, give us a break’ – marketers unimpressed by touted cost of Netflix ads
‘Seriously, Give Us A Break’ – Marketers Unimpressed By Touted Cost Of Netflix Ads | The Drum
News reports, and several media agencies in conversation with The Drum, believe that Netflix has set a steep entry price for its incoming ad-funded tier. At $65 CPM (the price of serving ad impressions to 1,000 people), it is significantly more expensive than many streaming services (and even top calendar events like the high demand Super Bowl). At this early stage media buyers remain unimpressed.
Is Netflix‘s high bar just bluster or will its ad product deliver? Here‘s what marketers are worried about.
Netflix’s early sales negotiations has been shrouded in silence. We’re not at the media pack stage of these talks and much of the information we do have has been leaked and softly disputed by the brand.
Zoom out
Netflix is pre-conditioning and anchoring the market early. Leaking extreme pricing in preparation for negotiations. The flinch, “seriously, give us a break”, is a much-needed response from the market. Without it Netflix may even consider they could have opened more extreme!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Warren Buffett
“You are not robbed just because the other party was smarter than you during negotiations...”
Got any questions or comments you’d like us to cover in next week’s Weekly Walkaway?
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