You will be able to plan a sequence of concessions that signals your limit credibly.
Arjun opened at S$6,000 a month for his retainer. The marketing manager asked for something lower, so he moved to S$5,800. She asked again, and he moved to S$5,600. She asked a third time. By now she has a pretty good idea what will happen if she asks a fourth time, and so does he.
Nothing Arjun said told her that. The numbers did. This lesson is about the message hidden in the size of your concessions, and how to make it say what you mean. All figures are examples.
Every time you move, the other side learns something from how far you moved. A big step suggests there's plenty of room left. A small step suggests you're running out. A pattern of steps tells a story about where your limit is, whether you intend it to or not.
Arjun's three steps were all S$200. Equal steps tell the other side there's no sign of slowing down. If S$6,000 became S$5,800 and then S$5,600, why wouldn't the next one be S$5,400? He has trained the manager to expect another S$200 each time she asks. If she asks once more and he gives it, he lands at S$5,400, below his target of S$5,500.
Growing steps are worse. If he'd moved S$100, then S$200, then S$300, each concession bigger than the last, he'd be signalling that pressure is working better and better. That invites the other side to keep pushing harder.
The alternative is to make each concession smaller than the one before. Here's Arjun's sequence if he'd planned it in advance:
S$6,000 to S$5,700, a move of S$300 S$5,700 to S$5,550, a move of S$150 S$5,550 to S$5,500, a move of S$50
The steps shrink from S$300 to S$150 to S$50. By the third, the message is plain without anyone having to say it: there isn't much more here. He arrives at S$5,500, which is his target, having conceded S$500 in total, and the pattern itself discourages a fourth request.
Shrinking steps feel natural to the person receiving them. Most people read a S$50 move after a S$300 move as a sign the other side is near the end of what they can do. That reading is accurate, which is part of why it works. You aren't pretending to be at your limit. You're showing honestly that you're getting close.
Pace and reasons matter as much as size. Concede slowly. Don't answer a request for a lower price with an immediate lower price. Ask a question first, consider it, or take the request away and come back.
And give a reason for each move. Arjun's first concession comes with a trade from lesson 5.1, Every concession gets something back: "If you can pay within 14 days, then I can do S$5,700." His second has a reason of its own: "If we fix the brief template for each video so there are fewer surprises, I can do S$5,550." Each step looks like the result of something real, not a reward for asking.
Concessions that feel earned are valued more by the other side. A drop extracted by a single "can you do better?" feels like it was always there to be taken, and the natural next thought is that more is there too. A drop that came after discussion, with a reason and something in return, feels like what it is: a real cost to you.
Before the negotiation starts, decide what your final concession will be. Arjun's is S$5,500. Below that, he'd rather offer fewer videos than a lower rate, as he planned in lesson 3.3, Plan your opening, questions and concessions.
When you get there, say so clearly. "S$5,500 is as far as I can go on the fee for eight videos. If the budget needs to be lower, I'd suggest six videos a month instead." This is a statement about the limit of this deal, not a threat. It also points the conversation towards other issues, which keeps it going.
Saying it only works if it's true. If you announce a final offer and then move again, every future "final" from you will be discounted. So choose the last move carefully, before you start, and hold it.
The activity asks you to plan three price concessions for your own negotiation, with each step smaller than the one before, and to check where the sequence leaves you against your target and your reservation point.
Plan a sequence of three concessions on price for your negotiation, each step smaller than the one before.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).