It was sometime in 2010, when I was working in the consulting services business of an IT major. We had emerged as the lowest (L1) bidder in an ERPconsulting tender floated by a Defense publi sector undertaking (PSU) in Hyderabad, India. I was happy to receive the invitation to come for a negotiation with the officers of the PSU. I discussed with my Manager and he consented to give a token discount as a mark of respect to the client, if they pressed hard for it.
I and a consultant from our local office reached the client’s factory around 12 noon as intimated by them. After rigorous security formalities, the contact from the client’s office welcomed us and informed us that the discussion would start once all the committee members assembled. The clock kept ticking and a few hours passed with none arriving. At this stage we were literally hungry as much as we were hungry for business.
Slowly the officers started trickling in and the meeting started in the evening. The questions from the committee members made it clear that they are convinced on the technical solution and it was just a mind game to build stress and lower the price. We clarified all the technical questions and patiently justified the price as well. It was well past 6pm in the evening with no sign of agreement on price. We had a bus to catch at 10pm to travel to another city. The discussion was in a cordial atmosphere but our token discount was not cutting much ice. The tug of war continued.
Around 8pm ,I felt the need to pause the negotiation without hurting the sentiments. At this stage the Head of Procurement said, “Our MD knows your company Chairman very well. He would readily agree to the price we are seeking”. I knew that he was pulling a fast one. This was a blessing in disguise. I paused for a moment and humbly said, “Sir, it is good to hear about the association at the top. Since I’m not empowered to meet your price expectations, It would be good if you could use your MD’s good offices as well. That will help both of us reach an acceptable solution.” We then signed the minutes and agreed to be in touch.
I reached my base location and had a candid telephonic conversation with the contact person on the client’s side. I told him that we did our best and no further reduction was possible. He took the message internally and the ‘Letter of Intent’ was faxed to us in a few days.
When I reflect back, I cherish the power of the ‘pause’ and thinking #outofthebox to break the impasse in #clientinteractions.
