Scotwork's Tales from the Table 2020

1. Prepare for them to make a late demand. It will happen to you. So keep a list of items with you that you can easily pull from when it comes time to trade for that late demand. Be sure to include items that you can use for small requests and items that you can use for big requests. Your return ask should be approximately equivalent to their ask. 2. Limit future demands. When late demands come up, ask the other party, “Is there anything else that we need to deal with?” The last thing you want is to have an endless list of demands. Find out if there are any other things that you need to consider and get them all on the table before you make your trade offer. 3. Trade for the signature. No matter what you trade, condition

needed to do was sign the contract. Then I got a phone call from the client. We were doing some retail marketing for them, and they asked us if we could swap out one of the retailers for another. It was a small ask, so I agreed. A week later, I got another phone call. They mentioned that since they were swapping retailers, they needed more time and had to push the start out a month. Not ideal but it seemed logical and I didn’t want to be difficult, so I agreed. Another week went by, the contract had not been signed, and they called again. This time, they said, they noticed that the contract had a cancel-for-convenience notice period of six months, and they wanted it adjusted to 30 days. This was a much bigger ask, since it would impact the employment agreements that I had with the team servicing this account. But if I didn’t agree, I feared that I would lose the deal. So, I agreed.

“Many buyers are taught to ask for closing concessions.”

Another week went by, with no signed contract, and they called again, this time asking for longer payment terms and a few other “small” items. Every time they called, the list grew. Reacting emotionally, I kept saying “yes” until I just couldn’t anymore. When I said I finally said “no,” the contract was signed. Not the contract that we started with, but a contract that was now much more favorable to the new client. That’s the problem with just giving in. The best way that I could’ve handled late demands was to ask for something in return. All I had to do was make a trade. It wasn’t their fault for asking for things, but it was my fault for not knowing how to handle their demands. I wasn’t prepared to do it. I wasn’t even sure what to ask for. Here are a few things that you can do when you’re in this situation:

it on the other party signing the contract with no further changes. Your closing concession should sound something like this: “If you agree to sign the contract with no further changes, then I will give you what you’re asking for.” Draw a line in the sand in order to get the deal done. If I’d been given this advice prior to finding myself in the situation described above, I could’ve easily traded their first request for the signed contract. Instead, I was hoping that they would just do the right thing, and I was reacting emotionally to get the deal done. So, before you just give in, ask yourself, “What do I need in return to give them what they want?” Answering that question will let you know what you need to do to stop further late demands.

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