A632.4.4.RB
Deception
in Negotiations
“Can you detect a
lie? One study found that 28 percent of
negotiators lied about a common interest issues during negotiations, while
another study found that 100 percent of negotiators either failed to reveal a
problem or actively lied about it during negotiations if they were not directly
asked about the issue.” (Hoch et al, pg. 187, 2001)
I
have experience in this. In the early
90s, I moonlit as a car salesman and from 1994 – 2003, I served as an US Army
Recruiter. Let me be honest, a sales
person does what he or she has to close the deal. Is lying required? No. Is
omitting information wrong? From my
experiences I’m going to go with a “no”.
If you didn’t ask me, I didn’t volunteer the information.
In
car sales, the product spoke for itself.
During delivery, all the bells and whistles need to be described to the
buyer. The negotiation happened during
the sale and it was actually the Sales Manager and Finance person that gave the
bottom line. It was up to the
salesperson to close the deal. Tactics
like telling the customer that the price was only valid “today” or throwing in
free oil changes usually closed the deal.
Other layers of persuasion would be added if the customer wanted to “walk”.
Recruiting
was a bit different. In the old days, we
would seek a dominant buying motive (DBM), by using TEAMS. Training…was the applicant looking for a
skill?, Education…was the applicant looking for money for college?, Adventure…was
the applicant looking for a thrill like jumping out of a plane?, Money…was the
applicant looking for a guaranteed pay check?, or Service to Country…was the
applicant just interested in serving his or her country or carrying on a family
tradition?
Omission
of information is common practice in negotiations. Sadly, so is lying. However, a skilled negotiator can detect lies
very easily.
So,
in this blog, I am asked to reflect on deceptions in negotiations and describe
four ways to reduce your vulnerability to deception during negotiations, relate
an example of a recent negotiation in which I was misled and one in which I may
have overstated a claim. In the case of the overstatement, how far would I have
gone, or did I actually go, to leverage your position?
So
how does one reduce his or her vulnerability to deception during
negotiations? Here are my thoughts.
1. Don’t be gullible and believe everything you
hear. Vet, vet, vet!
2. Do your research. Know who you are dealing with.
3. Sleep on it.
Never say yes until you are absolutely sure. This pisses sales people off.
4. Take “no” for an answer. Give “no” for an answer. Don’t be afraid of “NO”.
My
wife and I have had three opportunities to say no in the past year and a half. We have had someone try to sell us a water
softener, another try to convince us into solar panels, and a third try to sell
us another water softener. The first
water softener person was very convincing.
We actually said “yes” but after the agreement, we exercised our “buyers
right to rescind” after sleeping on it because the sale was made in our
home. The solar panel guys visited us
over a year ago. He then made contact
again and we invited him out to our home.
His sales pitch made sense but we said “no” because of the cost. Finally, the next water softener sales person
made sense and we have been enjoying the product for several months. The company threw in ten years of soaps,
lotions, and potions. We saw this as a
win-win although the price was higher than me being a similar device at Lowes
or Home Depot and installing it myself.
Since
I work in secondary education, I really don’t have many opportunities to
overstate my product. Secondary
education is compulsory to age 16 in most states. Kids have to go to school. However, kids do not need to pick my
elective. I tell them how great my
program is and they and their parents make their choice. I need to keep my numbers up to 10% of the
student population or 150 Cadets per year, whichever is lesser. Sometimes I have to sell the program.
Reference
Hoch, S.J., Kunreuther, H.C., with Gunther, R. E.
(2001). Wharton on Making Decisions. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons
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