When a ‘depreciation’ puts someone in a subordinate role, it is only natural for them to feel somewhat uncomfortable in that position – which means they will do anything they can to get out of it. This is when a tough professional negotiator – like Maria’s manager – will make use of the play we call ‘rolling out the red carpet’.
As it happens, this play actually has its roots in an old Chinese stratagem.
Show your enemy there is a road to life
Government troops have surrounded a band of thieves in the mountains. The thieves are many in number, and they are well armed and well stocked with provisions. Despite suffering great losses, the government troops haven’t been able to capture any of them. They turn to an old commander for advice.
The commander asks them about possible means of escape, and is assured that not even a mouse could get past the government troops. To this he replies: ‘Then of course they’ll fight until the bitter end. Since you have cut off their road to life, all that remains for them is to fight to the death. Show your enemy there is a road to life! Surreptitiously leave a passage unmanned in an inconspicuous spot. The thieves are many in number, and they are all different. Some of them will regret their choices; others may have been recruited by force. And some of them will simply be cowards. Once they see a way out, they will run through it one after the other. And then even your average postal worker will have no trouble rounding them up!’
That is what they did. Sure enough, the thieves were caught, brought to the capital and put to death.
A person who feels backed up against a wall has two options: they can either make a desperate attempt at resistance, or simply do nothing and let themselves be crushed. Similarly, a negotiator who feels backed up against a wall can choose one of three courses of action: they can either attack, escape or play dead.
Truth be told, none of these options lead to great results for either party. To make matters worse, what they do lead to is a sense of pressure or manipulation. This is where the play described above comes in handy. If you can show the person backed up against a wall a possible way out; if you can bring it out as an opportunity for ‘victory’ while saving face, then the outcome will change quite markedly. This is why it is always worth preparing two techniques prior to negotiations: one that will give you the upper hand, and another that will let your opponent lose while still saving face. Should the latter come to pass, when your opponent is backed up against a wall you need to know how to roll out the red carpet for them to walk down, wilfully choosing their own defeat. Only then will they be satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations.
For months a young man has unsuccessfully been trying to get a passport for international travel. All of his applications to date have been refused for a variety of reasons, each time with a request for some new document or other. Exasperated, he has found some leverage over the person handling his case – through their boss. The boss has assured him he will have a word with the handler.
Returning to the passport office with all the swagger of a champion, the man kicks open the door and says, ‘Didn’t I tell you? Now give me my passport!’
‘Yes sir, here it is.’
This story has a very sad ending. At the border, the chip in the passport turns out to be defective. Now what are the chances of that happening? Oh well, better luck next time.
All because the young man didn’t give his opponent the chance to save face and lose with dignity.
Treat your opponent not as the role they perform, but as the human they are. Everybody has emotions, and these are often what govern our actions.
Instead, this man should have rolled out the red carpet for his opponent. For example:
‘Maria Stepanovna [the handler, after her manager has already had a word with her], last time you told me to re-write my statement. Could you check everything is in order this time?’
‘All right, I’ll take a look. Oh, will you look at that, it’s fine.’
A simple gesture like this in no way detracts from your status – quite the opposite. After all, it brings you closer to the outcome you want.
The red carpet rule is the essence of the fourth postulate
of the Kremlin school of negotiation: making the opponent an offer they can’t refuse.
This play might sound something like this: ‘Well, fine, seeing as you’re here, if you can offer me a discount I’ll take a look at your proposal.’ In the majority of cases, your opponent will happily accept.
So, to begin with we listened to our opponent carefully. Then we asked questions, steering the conversation towards our objectives. As we did this, the opponent gave us lots of unnecessary information, things we hadn’t even thought to ask. And then we smoothly and discreetly introduced our own scale of values and gave the opponent a sharp dip in importance. And now our opponent finds themselves in a role and position they would very much like to get out of.
Now is the moment to roll out our red carpet, giving them the way out they’re so desperate for. Of course, our opponent will seize this opportunity with both hands: the position they have unexpectedly found themselves in is so unpleasant. Not to mention the fact that the terms of this ‘surprise escape’ do go some way towards achieving what they wanted. But only to some extent, and only at first glance.
If statistics are to be believed, then this method gets results in roughly 80–90 per cent of cases. But is 90 per cent always enough? At times only 100 per cent rock-solid results will do.
Which is why one more lever is brought into play, one that allows the user to crank their negotiation success rate up to 98 per cent.
Postulate 5: put the opponent in the zone of uncertainty
As a buyer I know from a major federal chain once put it: ‘No one has ever squeezed better terms out of a supplier than those the supplier squeezes out of themselves.’
So what does it mean to put someone in the zone of uncertainty?
You say something like ‘I’m not sure how my management will react to your refusal,’ or ‘I don’t know if it’ll be possible to bring you into our distribution network.’
It’s hard to put in words what happens in a seller’s mind when they hear this. You see, the seller has already been picturing all of the upsides of this deal, and the knock-on effect it will have for their business. Faced with uncertainty, who wouldn’t start to ask, beg, even plead – whatever it takes to coax out another chance? Who wouldn’t promise their opponent all imaginable (and unimaginable) bonuses, agree to any number of concessions?
Why does this happen? Fear gets a hold on us. Fear is a most powerful weapon.
Fear can also be described as a state of over-motivation, of ‘need’. The term ‘need’ is described well in Jim Camp’s book Start with NO.3 This is when a person feels compelled, for whatever reason, to conclude a deal, get the sale, get the documents signed.
And this isn’t the preserve of business relationships. A sense of ‘need’ is not uncommon in interpersonal