All tagged Making Deals
I’m not a big fan of the TV show, Shark Tank. It has too much of a contrived, over-the-top vibe to it with an extra helping of meanness served up by a couple of the “sharks”. I also don’t like it when entrepreneurs with good ideas give away too much of their company in return for, at least what I perceive as, too little in return. (You can chalk this off as the grumblings of a fellow, aging entrepreneur…)
Every deal has a point at which it doesn’t make sense anymore. The point at which the ‘ask’ is just too much.
In a sales deal, it could be when the price is too low, or when the accompanying demands (product add-ons, service level demands, ongoing performance expectations, etc.) aren’t worth the cost.
Of course, this isn’t only the case with sales deals - it happens in all aspects of our lives.
The more complex the transaction, the more difficult it is for everyone to emerge with everything on their wish list. That’s just the nature of the beast.
Political negotiations illustrate this perfectly and very publicly. You have dueling parties, fueled by competing ideologies, each proposing what they believe to be in the best interests of their constituents. (Yes, I know that politicians are driven more by what they think their voters will want to hear versus what they need to hear, but humor me for a bit.)
When we enter into a negotiation (in particular, a B2B deal), our usual (and natural) goal is to push for the very best deal possible. We analyze our situation, detail our requirements, assess the competition and evaluate alternative options that meet (or come close to meeting) our needs.
