Get In
Secret-3
Shake Things Up
I’ll bet you’ve never really stopped to consider
what’s been going on in the seller’s head prior to your arrival. Do you
understand that he thinks you showed up to do battle with him and try to
steal his house? Do you really know that? If not, you’d better make a note
of it. And as a result he’s spent all day gearing up to keep you from
doing so. Can you blame him? Wouldn’t you do the same if you were in his
shoes? Well, YOU ARE IN HIS SHOES. Remember? You’re on the same page.
You’re feeling his pain! Think about how that must feel to him and what
must be going on in his head. We talked about shaking things up and
shifting the players and the problems around a bit. So, instead of me vs.
you, we’re teammates, and instead of focusing on what doesn’t work, we
focus on things we can actually make happen.
Can you hear it? Now you get to blow his mind because instead of
engaging him in the tug of war battle for his house he’s expecting, you’re
going to shake things up. Forget any preconceived notions you may have.
The old rules no longer apply.
We shake
things up by TEAMING UP WITH HIM, and from there, we work together to get
things squared away. He expected “me against you.” Now he’s not going to
know what to expect. Forget the battle of wits. Forget the head-to-head
battle.
Heck,
forget all notions of battles. We’re here to solve problems, not create
new ones and engaging a seller in a “me against you” posture is simply a
poor position from which to negotiate. So why even bother? Remember, the
old rules don’t apply. Make your own! I see the seller as my client. And
me? I am simply a highly paid consultant, thank you very much. Make a note
of that, too. It’s my job to extricate him from his problems and most of
the time I am able to do just that.
If I am unable, I’ve failed him as a consultant and don’t deserve a
nickel. However, when I do pull things off (especially when the situation
is extremely dire and next to impossible) I deserve to collect a HUGE fee
for making the bad men go away. Now, don’t get me wrong. This is only how
I see myself when I’m negotiating. I do not, in reality, have any such
relationship so if you’re considering becoming an actual consultant,
you’re missing the point. It’s simply a way of looking at things that
allows me to instantly get in the proper mental state. Now that we’ve
shaken up the roles, let’s shake up the goals. When we attempt to shake up
the goals, we shift the focus from the problem to the possible solutions.
How? Here’s the big secret: the solution lies within the problem more
often than not. Your job is to figure out how to give a solution to him
that works, and still make lunch money. In other words, you say potato, I
say . . . you know, potato.
