I came across a blog post on Paul Castain's Sales Playbook entitled "A Good Reason NOT to Negotiate."   It seems to me, many people feel this same way about negotiating business deals, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on it with you... 

We very often hear people say that's it's difficult, if not impossible, to know the consequences for the other side.  And given the fact that most people don't think much about what it might mean to their customer to lose the deal, it's not particularly surprising that they feel that way.  The fact is, though, your customer really has only three likely Consequences of No Agreement (CNA):

Our deal is going through; so now we’re ready to talk “terms.” Trading gives us a powerful way to determine what both buyer and seller really want so we can use trade data to make each deal more productive and profitable.

Consequences of no agreement (CNA) analysis neutralizes virtually all of a buyer’s attempts to commoditize.  It paves the way for productive and more collaborative discussion about what is really being bought and sold. CNA analysis guides you through developing your total value proposition and mapping that value to the customer, one deal at a time, shifting the negotiation conversation away from just pricing.

At the negotiating table, the pressure we feel from commoditization is both common and pervasive. It can often be crippling because it limits our options. You think less clearly and have a harder time focusing on your goals. As a result, bad decisions are made – based on temporary conditions – that last, in some cases, forever.  Commoditization pressure is just another tactic a buyer uses to back you into a corner so that lowest price becomes the issue rather than quality, customer service, your ability to solve their business problems, a feature they might actually value or a dozen other valuable things you may have to offer.  They do this because it works; we feel the pressure and begin to react defensively.

A pervasive belief about negotiation is that you can’t plan for it and can’t control it because nothing is predictable; negotiation is all reaction and no amount of proactive preparation will matter. The essence of this problem was poignantly captured in an offhand comment made by the editor of

When you have a deep and broad understanding of your total value proposition and how important that value is to your prospect, you will not be the least bit fazed when he sits back, folds his arms, and announces: “Your competitor will give it to me for 20 percent cheaper.”  When he hits you with this zinger, he probably doesn’t know what he’s talking about. It’s up to you to enlighten him...

"The ability to tactically engage others in the face of impending power implosions and redirect potential negative and destructive energies toward a greater positive outcome is the mark of a true leader in today’s workplace," states Dr. Jeffrey Magee.  He continues with, "It’s all about egos, competitiveness, saving face, and not being seen as the one having to make a concession that leads to a need to win at any cost!  Many times it is this cost of power struggles that, in the final accounting, leads to significant loss of true gains and wins for the greater whole because individuals get caught up in the minutia of petty struggles. And from there, a pattern develops whereby struggles become the norm."

The most likely sources of information in your organization are those who have handled a specific customer before, those who have worked for the customer, and those who have worked for your most likely competitor in this deal.  Virtually every organization I've ever been in employs people who have worked for either its customers or its competitors.  I have found, though, that the hardest thing to do is to find out exactly who those people are.  In addition, the larger the selling organization, the harder it is to find them.  At the same time, however, the larger the selling organization, the more likely it is that people are there who will be able to help you.