The “Just Suppose” Negotiating Tactic Is a Useful Way to Get More Information
During a negotiation, there often arise cases where we’d really like to get the other side to give us information that they really don’t want to give to us. If only there was some way to test the other side’s willingness to settle with us.
Such a tactic does exist – it’s called the “just suppose” tactic.
Imagine you were on the buying side of a negotiation looking to buy multiple items of a particular product or service.
You might ask the seller to give you a quote for 1, 10 or 20 of the item or service (or a contract for 1, 6 or 12 months). Once you have a response to the request for price, you’ll have lots of information about their costing scheme, any setup charges, economies and production/service costs.
The “just suppose” tactic is very powerful when used appropriately. To help you get the most out of this tactic, here are several suggestions that can help you get information during a negotiation:
Now, all of these suggestions are great news if you are trying to buy something, but what if you are the one doing the selling? In negotiations, everything is an opportunity.
Once you hear the buyer starting to ask “just suppose” type questions, you should start to be on alert to what might be coming next. Here are several ways that the seller can react to the tactic:
Don’t come up with new prices “off the cuff”. Take time to plan your prices carefully.
Not every “just suppose” question actually needs to be answered. You can avoid answering these types of questions by using responses such as