Making the Ultimatum Stick

In some of the Illustrations discussed earlier, ultimatums were used. Ultimatums are commonly employed, whether by a parent giving a child the “Last and Final Proposal” regarding a curfew or by a union approaching the wire in collective bargaining.

For your ultimatum to succeed, it must meet 4 criteria:

1. Frosting on the cake. The other side must have no other choice or they must have such an investment that they can’t fold their cards and walk away. Therefore, an ultimatum must come at the end of a negotiation, never at the begning. You can’t frost a cake until you bake it.

2. Soft and Palatable. The words used must never belittile or offend the other side. “Hard” ultimatums, such as “Take it or Leave it!” or ” It’s this or else!” are self-defeating. “Soft” ultimatums are palatable because they’re simply a statement of your reality. Example: “I certainly understand your predicament. Your position is valid, but this is all I’ve got. Help me.”

3. A Recipe that can’t be Tampered with. It’s always wise to back up your final position with some form of documentation or legitimacy. Example: “You deserve what you’re asking for. I wish I could give it to you, but this is all I have in my budget!“

The visual display of the “official budget,” which consists of black marks on white paper, usually does the trick. Other references, such as “This would be a violation of the presidential wage guidelines,” “The F.T.C won’t let us,” or “It would be against company policy” are also highly effective.

Even without supporting documentations, all of us have been swayed by such statements as, “But all my friends are going!” or “If we let you do it, everyone will want to do it!”

4. Selection from a limited menu. Never leave the other side without alternatives. Never state, “It’s this or nothing!” Rather, structure the situation to allow them to make the choice with one option obviously much more desirable to them – at least compared to the other.

For instance, assume I’d like to hire you for a position in my Organization. You want $50,000 salary, but I can’t afford to pay you more than $30,000. Do I say the equivalent of “Take it or Leave it!” No. That’s offensive. Instead, I say to you, “You deserve what you’re asking for. It’s reasonable. However, this is all I can offer you in that particular Pay Grade: between $28,000 and $30,000. What do you want?“

Obviously, you reply, “I’ll take $30,000.“

I protest slightly, as though you’re getting the edge in the situation: “Could you make that $29,000?“

You say, “No … I want $30,000.“

I sigh, then capitulate. “Oh, all right. If you feel that strongly, I’ll go along with it. $30,000 it is.“

The same limited-menu Technique works even in highly dramatic situations. In August of 1977 Croatians skyjacked a TWA aircraft scheduled to go from New York’s La Guardia Airport to Chicago-O’Hare.

In a stall for time, the plane was flown a serpentine route via Montreal, Newfoundland, Shannon, London, and ultimately to Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris, where French authorities shot out its tires.

The plane sat on the runway for 3 days. Finally the French Police, meeting my criteria, gave the terrorists a limited-menu ultimatum, which I’ll paraphrase as follows: “Look … you guys can do whatever you want. However, American Police have arrived, and if you give up and go back to the States with them now, you’ll get 2 – 4 years in prison, tops. That means you’ll probably be let out in about 10 months.“

Waiting for a moment so that would sink in, the French continued, “But if we have to capture you , the penalty is execution, according to the law of France. Now … what would you like to do?“

Believe it or not, the skyjackers decided to surrender and take their chances with the American Judicial system.

So, Here we finish with Part -1 of the Article “Yes, You Can” Chapter . The Knowledge Given in this Chapter will help you with the Basic Concepts of Negotiations.

The Next Chapter which will be our Part 2 (The 3 Crucial Variables) of the Article, will Initiate now and Part-2 also has 3 Topics which we will cover in Detail.

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Negotiations