There are a lot of factors other than money that may come up in a negotiation.? A recent trip brought up an unexpected opportunity in negotiation.? Recently my wife and I had attended a self-publishing workshop in North Carolina.? We had booked the room for four nights and arrived on a Thursday evening.? Later that night, we attended a happy hour hosted by the hotel manager and had a pleasant evening. Friday evening we came back to our room and could not get the key to work.? They had cancelled the room.? I went to the front desk and got the keys ?recharged? and the desk clerk asked how many more nights we would be staying.? I told her one more night.? Saturday we were told that class would end early by 3:00 P.M.? We decided Sunday morning that we would check out and leave early.? Sue went to checkout of our room while I filled the ice chest.? When I came back she was fuming.? The manager had tried to charge her for the night we were not using.? Here is how the negotiation unfolded and some commentary on the negotiation tactics used.
Customer:?? Hi, we are checking out of Room 202.
Manager:? I see that you were booked for 4 nights and you are checking out early, I will have to charge you for the fourth night. [You are changing the deal]
Customer:? What!? That?s ridiculous, people check out all of the time.? [This is a common occurrence and is accepted in the industry.]
Manager:? Well, you booked for four nights; here is your original reservation.? [We have a contract]
Customer:? Well, I?m sorry but we found out that our class is ending early.? Several of us have checked out already.? [You have allowed this to occur already ?exception to the policy]
Manager:? Hmm.? Well I will have to evaluate it at the end of the day to see what the charges are.? [Postpone decision until the person is not there to refute it.]
Customer: Why do you have to wait, you are the manager and can approve it now.? [You have the authority and there is no one higher up who has to approve it]? Besides, I brought you another customer who stayed two nights at the higher weekend rate.? I am an Honors member and stay at this chain all of the time.? I would not expect to have to pay for nights I don?t use.? [Ongoing relationship with company, do you really want to alienate a good customer who will be back to this specific place.]
Manager:? Okay, we do want to provide good service to our members.? [They have referred me business and can bring future business, why jeopardize the relationship.]
Two important factors were at play here ? maintaining the relationship and citing standards that the company espouses.? We will talk more about standards next week.? While one of the issues was money (the night?s lodging), the real decision point was keeping the relationship and roviding a great stay at the hotel (customer service).? When negotiating, remember there are other factors at play besides money.? You need to figure that out what those factors are and use them to make yours a winning negotiation.
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