Lower Your Ethics

I came across a very good post from Blair Enns (see url below) pointing out the different ethical standards that apply when you are selling compared to when you are negotiating.

When you are selling B2B, the sale usually takes at least a few months. During that period you will, as a seller, stick to high ethical standards because anything less is going to adversely affect your chances of closing the deal. You know the buyer knows that “the sale is the sample of the engagement to follow”. Contracts don’t replace the need for trust, and anything which undermines trust is likely to undermine the sale.

Assuming that buyer and seller decided to do business together, then your client’s goals of value creation (by “client” I mean the individual you are selling to, not the company) are closely aligned with yours.

On the other hand, the goal of value creation is not the goal typically pursued by the people you will negotiate the contract with – finance, legal or, typically, procurement. Their goal is different (price reduction, improved commercial terms, risk shifting) and the tactics adopted by both sides don’t reflect the high ethical standards of the selling phase.

Both sides generally recognise that, during a contract negotiation, different rules apply and that, for example, bluffing (aka lying) is permissible.

From which I draw two lessons.

If you are both the seller and the contract negotiator, you need to recognise that different standards apply to selling and negotiating and conduct yourself accordingly.

If your business can afford it, use different people to do the selling and the negotiating. Having a separate seller and a separate negotiator allows you to play good cop/bad cop, and exploit the advantages that follow. It also preserves the seller’s reputation vis-à-vis your main contact at the client company.

Here’s the link to the Blair Enns article:

https://www.winwithoutpitching.com/the-conflicting-ethics-of-selling-negotiating/

PS if there’s anything in particular that you would like me to cover in Oh Lawdy!, please let me know.