Negotiations Training

Everyone's Doing It:
Neutralizing Tactics: Blanketing

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book. You can imagine who likes to use it more than anyone else. Can you guess? Children, of course! You know the story (and the typical response). Just about every one of us has heard it as both children and parents:

Child: "C'mon mom. Why can't I get a cell phone? Everyone else in 6th grade is getting one."

Parent: "If everyone else was jumping off the Brooklyn bridge, would you?"

Child: "Awww, moooom..."

Everyone's doing it, right? Don't you want to be part of the in-crowd? Can't you understand... it's just the only way things are done now! But... is it really? That's the main issue.

Purchasing departments love to use this tactic. It is a broad generalization that seems to imply a certain level of legitimacy to chip away and weaken the other party's position. In the business world, it takes on a different form:

Seller: "What we've put in place is a reasonable proposal that allows you to continue to purchase the software at the original price."

Buyer: "Yeah... I see what you're saying but I can't believe you're making us commit to purchasing so many copies. Every vendor that we've spoken to has volume commitments that are half of what you're asking. We can't agree to that amount."

To neutralize this tactic, you need to utilize objective criteria to make a comparison. Is your buyer truly comparing apples and oranges? If another vendor is proposing lower volume requirements, are their payment terms the same? Are they requiring other purchases? It helps to drill down into the specifics of competing offerings.

After the buyer has used Blanketing to knock down your volume requirement, you could counter with some of the following questions:

• "Have the other vendors required any additional purchases?"
  
• "What type of maintenance purchases are you required to make to receive that type of pricing?"
  
• "Is volume your only concern?"
  
• "Can you provide me details of what those vendors have proposed?"
  
• "Is there a time limit on those agreements?

Dig deeper into what is considered standard operating procedure in your industry. It helps to know what your competition is proposing in the marketplace. Some companies may offer cut-rate prices but require a great deal of service or support after a sale. Knowing "the big picture" will protect you when the other party uses Blanketing.