Counter one of the classic negotiating gambits by addressing it directly.

You’ve assembled a brilliant sales proposal for a new client and when you arrive to the meeting to hammer out the final details, you suddenly find yourself sitting across the table negotiating with two people. One is a person with whom you’ve had contact during the sales process; the other is new – a purchasing agent.

The former is characteristically warm, gracious, and quite friendly to your proposal. The latter is hard-nosed, aloof, and completely opposed to nearly every one of your positions. They are playing the classic negotiating tactic of ‘good guy – bad guy.’

In the audiobook, “Sound Advice on Negotiating Skills,” author Roger Dawson says that when buyers use good guy – bad guy, they are counting on the salesperson being drawn to the good guy. Psychologically, the salesperson wants to please him or her by making

The solution, says Dawson – a renowned speaker and author of the book, “Secrets of Power Negotiating” – is to “counter their tactic by letting them know that you realize what they’re doing. It’s such as well known negotiating tactic that when you say to them, ‘Oh come on, you’re not going to play good guy, bad guy with me, are you?’ they become embarrassed they were caught and will back off.”

Roger Dawson offers negotiating skills advice each week in the free audio newsletter from What’s Working in Biz, http://www.whatsworking.biz/full_story.asp?ArtID=92

Richard Cunningham is a principal of What’s Working in Biz, http://www.whatsworking.biz, a publisher of business audiobooks and online audio programs on marketing, sales, and small business strategies.