Choose Your Ground
Sep 02, 2021In a previous blog we talked about Floyd's principle, keep their decision simple, when presenting offers. In this multiple offer market, helping our clients make good decisions is more valuable than ever.
A second Wickman negotiating principle is to choose your ground. Floyd is using a military metaphor (he is a US Navy veteran) to illustrate that where and how you choose to present offers – your "ground" – can predetermine the success or failure of a negotiation.
For instance, where once it was common to negotiate face-to-face with Sellers when presenting offers, technology has made it easier to simply email them. The pandemic has made this almost a standard practice. But is this the best way to help our clients make good decisions? Not for a decision this complicated and financially important.
Email isn't bad, but when it comes to choosing your ground, there is good, better and best.
A good way to present offers has been in use since the beginning of the video phone and video conferencing technology, presenting to absentee owners and out of town Sellers. Remote presentations aren't the most effective, but they do give you control of what your client sees and hears, whereas email does not.
Better than presenting remotely is getting together face-to-face live at their kitchen table. The kitchen table is where families meet, where couples discuss and make their decisions, where the lighting is usually good, where you have room to put your presentation, and where the coffee pot is.
And the best "ground" for presenting offers is your office conference room. Any neutral ground is better than their home turf, but your office is best. It is a decision-rich environment. And it is good time management to have them come to you.
Keep their decision simple and choose your ground when presenting offers and you will find it sets you up for more successful negotiations. Your clients will find it easier for them to make those important life decisions.
The Floyd Wickman Team blog by Mike Pallin
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