The 8 Popular Lies People Usein their Negotiations

So we’ve come to the part where we talk about the 8 popular lies used by people during negotiations. While these lies are often not used most of the time, they are popular because it is often difficult to discern whether the information or excuse given by the party is a lie or not.

Oftentimes, only a professional negotiator can come up with the best conclusions through the use of experience and face negotiation techniques. 

In any case, here are some of the popular lies often used or heard during negotiations:

1. Time Prolonging Lies

These are the lies you often hear even before the start of the negotiations. Statements such as “I am going to be late because” and “I am almost near the building” type of lies are often used to get people to prolong the time duration needed before the negotiations can start, prepare better. People say that they are late for a meeting, but actually, they started to prepare too late.   

While it doesn’t hurt the reputation of the negotiator too much, it will count that particular negotiator as annoying or someone who isn’t able to keep up with schedules.

2. Lies about bottom lines and alternatives

When a negotiating party starts throwing counter-offers that seem too high or too low for the offer itself, it is often good advice to take it with a grain of salt. If suppliers keep pushing the argument that they could get a better deal somewhere else, why are they still at your negotiation table? Because they do not have a better alternative.

Remember, any statement that requires deliberation is stated too quickly, there is always a chance that it’s a lie. Researching the other side’s claim is very important to uncover the truth!

3.Impact of raw material price development

In order to start the negotiation for a new contract, many suppliers ask for higher price increases than needed. Yes, negotiation lying to gain an advantage over raw material price is possible during negotiations.

In many cases, the facts are to the advantage of procurement managers: make sure you have as much information as possible about the development of all raw materials prepared and ask the supplier to provide you all the details needed if you have any doubt.

4. A deal with a competitor is way better

We all know this supplier that is constantly stating that his deals with your competitors are better. For example, many suppliers say that they are offering a 20% better deal than he actually is at competitors.  It’s a shame we as procurement managers can’t really find out if this is an actual lie or not, but if a supplier is constantly bringing this variable to the table, ask them why they are still negotiating with you if they can get such a good deal somewhere else and tell them – if they stay off course – afterward to focus on the deal they are closing with your instead of wasting time talking about competitors. 

5. Ignoring Reciprocity

During negotiations, a concession should always be matched with a certain degree of reciprocity. If one party has offered a concession, the other party must match it with the right amount or degree of concession as well. When there is none given or the other party just gives lip service to the concession, then it’s high time to start packing because the other party could be lying, or frustrating the process at least. A good tactic for this would be to threaten to leave if no concession is given. If the other party remains the same, then there’s no point in negotiating.

6. Escalation of Commitment

There might be times where the other party has already invested a certain amount of money or investment already before agreeing on a deal. If this is the case and the other party has knowledge of this, then there is no shame in walking away. It’s because the other party will surely take advantage of this fact because they know the investment will keep the other side in place for further negotiations all because they are afraid to walk away after investing resources.

7. Too-good-to-be-true

When a super deal is offered and it’s really too good to be true, then you know you have to be on your guard. This could be a final tactic by the other party as a means of tricking you into accepting a deal that might have some unseen variables in it. If you’ve done your research and you know that the offer is too good to be true, you can immediately turn it down or just simply walk away!

8. Last Minute Nibbling

Last-minute nibbling refers to that one particular negotiator who is fond of making small requests before the deal is done. This particular lie can be effective, especially if the other party is really intent on just getting the deal done and getting out of there. They don’t realize that they’ve already lost a good chunk of profit because they haven’t thought much about what the last-minute nibbler got!

Stop those Negotiation Lies!

Enroll now in the Negotiation Course For Procurement Professionals! Detect those annoying negotiation lies early and call out the other party. Become the most feared and trusted negotiator!