REAL-WORLD INSIGHTS

Published: Jun 14 , 2021
Author: Brian Buck

The dominoes began to fall. My friend bought his first house with a garage. He loved being on a lake, and he said as soon as he bought a house where he could store a boat, a boat he would get. So, shortly after closing on his house, he bought a boat. After getting the boat, he realized he needed something to tow it with, and what better way to tow than with a truck? So, he set off to buy himself a truck. But not just any truck, mind you — it had to be a manual four-wheel drive that could do it all. This was in the early 2000s, at the height of the dot-com explosion; he found a website where he could order his truck the way he wanted it, and they would deliver it to him. While this is a bit more commonplace today, it was a unique service back then. This truck-selling dot-com quoted him a good price, and what happened next shaped his views on negotiating forever.

Published: Jun 07 , 2021
Author: Brian Buck

Worldwide, 3.78 billion people are active users of social media. That’s about 48% of the world’s population. In the US alone, 7 out of 10 people report spending time scrolling through their favorite channels. Whether you’re reading your newsfeed on Twitter, catching up with your favorite talking dog on Instagram, or tagging old high school friends on Facebook, the world is a lot smaller. So many more things are playing out in public view. Our social habits have conditioned us to expect more transparency in everything we do, including how we negotiate.

Published: May 24 , 2021
Author: Brian Buck

Years ago, I was growing frustrated with how a negotiation was going with my newly acquired client. My team and I had a great relationship with the brand’s CMO and marketing team. However, once we determined the scope with the CMO, we were forced to negotiate the deal with someone from sourcing. We were no longer allowed to talk to the CMO or the marketing team, even though the sourcing person kept saying they had to consult with them before making a decision. Add to that, the sourcing person was not sharing a lot of information, yet they kept telling us that we were the most expensive option they had, and we had to “sharpen our pencil.” We were stuck.