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Tactic #88 - Pulling on Your Heartstrings
Summary: Using the power of the relationship
with the counterpart to get concessions.
Once in a while you may want to remind your
counterpart of your long-term relationship or provide some specific
details about your circumstances that your counterpart may not be aware
of.
Example
A bank sends a corporate customer a monthly loan
statement. The statement contains a fifty-dollar charge for a loan
payment that was received five days late. The accountant for the
corporate customer calls the loan officer at the bank and states, "I
have a problem and I need your help. For whatever reason, you
received our loan payment five days late. Considering our ten-year
relationship, I'm hoping you can make a one-time exception and waive the
late charge."
Counter
If the bank's goal is to build a long-term
relationship with the customer, our recommendation would be to grant the
one-time waiver. Adding a Safeguard might be wise.
The bank could send the customer a letter granting the one-time waiver,
but specifying that if the problem recurs, a $50 late charge will be
imposed.
If the bank's only goal is collecting the $50 late
payment, two counters would be effective. First, the loan officer
could tell the customer that the late fees are Standard Practice or
Policy for the bank and, as such, are nonnegotiable. Second, the
loan officer could use Good Guy/Bad Guy, offering to ask her manager for
permission to waive the fee, and then coming back and saying that her
manager refused.
This tactic is one of 101 strategies and tactics
featured in The Only Negotiating Guide You'll Ever Need, by Peter
Stark and Jane Flaherty.
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