Negotiating Anything, Any Place : Moving Up (Part 1)
Good Day Readers, Today we are going to start our New Topic Moving Up. What Does it Mean?
Does the squeaky wheel really get the grease? Yes --- if it knows where and how to squeak.
Let's cover a grievance that you have against a large, seemingly impersonal bureaucracy. I recommend ---
- Phone the organization's nearest office. Get the full name and position of the person you speak with. Put your plight in simple human terms so they can identify you. After asking for their help, obtain a verbal commitment and a time for remedial action to occur.
- Follow up the phone call with a gracious letter to remind the person with whom you spoke that you are counting on them.
- Just before the action deadline, call your "friend" to check on the progress of their personal efforts. If this doesn't stir things up ---
- Visit the nearest office in person. Be polite and courteous. See your "friend", but make sure others are also aware of the injustice that still exists. Solicit help from others so they feel an obligation to assist in finding an equitable solution.
What if the preceding still doesn't result in satisfactory action? Move up Another Level.
Every organization is a hierarchy. Steadily go up the ladder, rung by rung, until you get satisfaction. The higher you go, the more likely you are to have your needs met.
Why? Several reasons. People who are higher up understand that general rules were never meant to cover every specific situation. They're more aware of the Big Picture and can visualize the fall-out that might result from improper handling.
Even more significant, they have greater authority and get paid to take some risks and make decisions.
At any level, try not to Negotiate with a person who lacks authority, unless you enjoy wasting your time. If you're considering interaction with someone, first ask yourself: Who is this individual? What Experience have others had with him? Where is he on the organizational chart? What types of decisions can he actually make? Does he have any real clout?
When you're determined all this to a reasonable extent, check it out by asking the person, politely but pointblank, "Can you remedy this situation?" or, "Are you able to help me solve this problem?" or, "Do you have the authority to take the kind of action I want right now?"
If the response is negative, turn to someone else.
No one has total authority, so don't expect it. All you can expect of someone with moderate to considerable authority --- especially i a bureaucracy-- is that if he makes an agreement, he'll do everything in his power to implement it.
He'll crawl out on a limb to honor his commitment. He'll stick his neck out for you, if only because it's a matter of his integrity and principal.
When Menchem Begin of Israel finally agreed to go along with the Mideast peace formula, he said the equivalent of this to President Carter: "I don't have the authority to make a definite national commitment, but I will guarantee that if the Israeli Parliament doesn't ratify the agreement, I'll resign." You can't ask for more than that
Let me give you 5 Examples of a squeaky wheel getting the grease because it moves up to levels of greater authority. In each case, you're the hypothetical squeaky wheel.
Here's the first example.
Because the plane you took dragged its wings in a holding pattern, thanks to a thunderstorm, you arrive at a hotel 40 minutes before midnight. Your suit is damp and wrinkled, your shoes are wet, you have dyspepsia, and you're fatigued right down to your bone marrow.
Even your teeth are tired. You're eager to hit the sack in that single room for which you have a guaranteed reservation. Thank God you have that reservation.
The check-in clerk glances at you, then mutters, in a flat, metallic voice, "Yes your Reservation is guaranteed, but we don't have a room. We accidently overbooked, It happens once in a while."
What should you do? Immediately lower your suitcase to the carpet and remind yourself that the clerk is, at that moment, basically a reacting, non-thinking machine. He's behaving like a programmed robot or computer, feeding you information his superiors in the hotel's hierarchy fed to him.
They told him there are no rooms available. Parrotlike, he's transmitting this data to you. Since he isn't thinking of options at the hotel's disposal, it's up to you to help him solve their problem.
You run the options through your head. The hotel may have suite it can give you. It can put a bed in one of it's meeting rooms. It might let you use the living room portion of a suite. It could even have a room, if you intend to leave early the next morning.
As a starter you say, "Well --- how about a suite? How about the Governor's Suite, if the others are taken? I know you have meeting rooms and conference rooms. They're advertised in all your brochures. Could you put a bed in one of the conference rooms or meeting rooms?"
The clerk balks. "Oh no -- we can't do anything like that. Why don't you let me try to put you up in another hotel?"
You reply, "I don't want to be put in another hotel. I'm tired, and I want to got to bed, to quote an old song. And I want to go to bed right here. Let me talk to your General Manager, Please." ( You know the General Manager won't be on duty this late at night, but you want the clerk to know you are determined.)
The clerk makes a face, picks up a special phone, and mumbles something into his mouthpiece. The night manager suddenly appears, as you knew he would. You repeat your query about suites, meeting rooms, and other available options.
The night manager consults a room chart, frowns, and looks up. "We do happen to have a suite left. It's being redecorated. However, it's double the price of a single room."
You quietly but firmly state, "It shouldn't cost one red cent more, because I have a guaranteed reservation!"
The Night Manager sighs, then says, "Well --- do you want it or not?"
You Reply, "I'll take it --- and we'll discuss the Price Tomorrow."
Nect morning, when you're at the front counter again, ready to check out, you're presented with your bill. Sure enough, it's double the price you expected to pay. Now you ask to see the General Manager. Are you self- confident? Yes.
You know you're in the driver's seat, because the service has already been rendered. (Once a service has been rendered, it's never as valuable as it was prior to being rendered.) You inform the General Manager about your surprise when the hotel failed to honor its reservations policy.
After listening to his explanation, you now discuss the exorbitant room charge.
95% of the time, the General Manager will apologize for the billing error. He'll let you pay the single-room price for the suite. He knows that, had it not been for the hotel's carelessness, the question of the room charge would never have come up. And he's aware that in the long run, it pays to be fair.
Let me give you a Personal; "For Instance" involving a similar situation.
Well Readers, we'll take a break here and discuss this next example in our Next part.
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