Getting through a stalemate

Sometimes you hid a roadblock. Now what?

You sent a price increase letter and your customer said, “we reject your price increase”.

You told your child he must wear pants to school. He says “Noooooooooo” screams and cries. The bus is coming.

Your have tried to bring your customer to the negotiation table but time ticks on and there’s no real discussion. You can’t continue like this.

Now what?

Stalemates happen. This is the moment where I find it helpful to pause, take a deep breath and find a creative path forward. To find a successful path, it’s important to understand why we’re in a stalemate.

A rejected price increase…. Could be a delay tactic. If so, it’s time to escalate, inform your customer that you reject their rejection and request a meeting to ensure continued support. Or escalate internally and ask your boss’ help to call your contact and find out what gives? Do they not like your support or don’t understand your ask?

A refusal to wear pants… can be met with a joke about sponge bob, an offer to chose. Young people are often frustrated by lack of choice and agency leading them to pull out all the stops. These pants? Those? a skirt? a tutu? You chose but wear something over those undies.

If you can’t get your customer to respond to your polite reasonable request to negotiate, then it’s time to find another avenue. There can be many reasons for this… delay tactics, lack of budget, an illness, competitors taking your share…. Each one can drive a different kind of response. Use other contacts to pull the right person in. Escalate on the customer side over your contact who refuses to meet to get a meeting. Be firm. You must meet. Terms are changing and it’s not your intent to surprise. You want a win-win.

There’s a way through. Understand the cause and there is a solution. Be empathetic but also firm about what you need.

Happy Negotiating!