S1 asks why should we have a slight fuck off attitude in our communications to the B2C players, and why should we lend a helping hand to our B2B players?
This is a good question and shows how innocent S1 is when it comes to interpersonal communications and reminds me of my time at Bath.
The assumption she has is that customers and clients are by default nice and will do what they say. By a slight fuck off attitude, I don’t mean saying fuck off to your clients. But rather, it means you need to be negotiating from a position of strength. When they see you need money, they will prey on this insecurity and ask for discounts or will delay payments. Ever seen Balenciaga offer a discount or sell on credit?
Now the question is how can you negotiate from a position of strength?
This cannot be faked; this will only come when the client knows you have options. For this you need two prerequisites, you actually need to have options and you need be actually good at what you do. This will give you confidence.
Next, you need to identify the bad clients from the good ones. This is an invaluable skill to have and comes with real world experience. For this, you need to talk to a lot of potential clients and choose to work only with the good ones.
Tips on identifying good and bad clients,
- Usually if they are lean and not fat, that means they don’t hoard. They spend. The only rational explanation to this is they spend on what they eat because good health comes at a high price, and if they are willing to pay for good quality food and/or a gym membership, they are in a habit of spending money for a better standard of living. If they can spend on health, they can spend on other products and services as well.
- Good clients and customers usually don’t haggle on price. If the person is price sensitive, he will prove to be a bad client in the long run. Steer clear from these sorts of people. They will extract value without paying for anything in return. They will switch the minute a cheaper option comes along. They don’t know the value of loyalty in business.
- There is a term for bad clients, the gamma male. Gamma males also understand negotiation well, and they usually engage in power play or victim behaviour.
Power play – The gamma’s power play comes from inherited wealth and often the appreciating prices of their land bank. Because of this frame of mind, they also engage in name dropping. They will wear a Rolex and have an expensive car, yet they rejoice when they get more out of a deal than what is justified.
Victim Behaviour – When they know they are losing a negotiation; they will pull out the victim card. They will engage in storytelling saying, that how they lost a lot of money in the stock market, or maybe they just got divorced and have to pay alimony. Do not fall prey to this tac tic. If you do, they will simply laugh behind your back after leaving the room. - Gammas don’t have skin in the game.
For example real estate brokers don’t have skin in the game. They trade property and bank on the inflation. They are not taking risks. Another way to identify gammas is, if what they are doing fails, are they willing to take the blame for the fall. Do they often take credit for other people’s work?
Nuance
Of course, there is some nuance to this. And it only comes with practice. What I have shared above is a lens to read people, and sometimes your predictions maybe off. You will get hints when engaging in conversation with them. Then you will have to be the judge. Sometimes, when you are learning and practicing, its okay to offer discounts some time to the needy or do some pro bono work.
What happens when you have a slight fuck off attitude and how to present that attitude?
When you have options, and you know you have more clients coming through your door anytime, you will have the confidence to say no to the bad ones. Thats where you need to be arrogant. Now the problem with Indians in general is, India has a somewhat patriarchal power structure in households, the people with inherited wealth are generally gamma men. And you need to extract money from them on time in return for the value you are offering.
You have to refine your sales script accordingly.
How to present a fuck off attitude?
This is somewhat ingrained in me, and hard to explain. So, I can give you some anecdotes –
Anecdote #1
I remember once, a potential client from Dehradoon came to me. He said we just wanted to trade plants, he wanted to buy at a very cheaper price from me in bulk and sell it at a premium to local farmers there and was basically low balling me. He also mentioned, we just wanted to sell plants, avocado farming isn’t profitable. I simply replied, then I can’t sell you my plants. And then I remained silent. I let him speak and break the silence, he had 2 options,
Had he apologised and increased his offer, that meant he was open to talk. But he chose to further act on his gamma impulse, and said we can’t do this deal. I simply said, correct. He sat for 2-3 minutes; there was pin drop silence in the room. And then he left.
The best part about this incident was, I knew a cab dropped him off at my farm and you can’t book one on your way back. I usually drop my customers in my car when they can’t book a cab. I knew with an attitude like that, he wouldn’t ask me for help, and he would have to walk back 2-3 km in full heat and no water. And he did, I simply chuckled knowing this would happen.
This can only come from a position of I don’t need you. You need me.
Anecdote #2
Another time, I was at my construction site. Back when I used to work there, a potential customer specifically asked my sales staff to speak to me. Again, he low balled and compared our project to our competitor next door. I simply said, not possible. Again, I get hints from the way people talk, to judge if they are legit or not. I knew he will buy, because if he was at our site and showed enough interest to talk about the price, that means he was interested. He knew he was low balling too much; I caught his bluff.
So, I simply left. This is called a hard neg. You can burn a deal with this move. But if this works, he will come back. You have to use this very selectively and you should actually be 100% willing to walk away.
Again, I was right, he did come back 1 month later. But by that time, the price had already been increased and I had also left the business.
The goal here is to get to a position where low balling actually feels like a massive sign of disrespect.
Nuance again
There is also some nuance here, I am generally very nice when I know the person is coming from a position of honesty and innocence. Still, I stick to my prices. But in return, I know that if I have charged them money, then my service has to be impeccable.
Why should we lend a helping hand to our B2B players?
Firstly, who are the B2B players. These are your
- Employees,
- Labours,
- Suppliers,
- Contractors
- Associates
If you keep them happy, they would want to bring you more clients. People talk, and when they do, they should be praising you. Once your customer hears about your work, and verifies your good will in the market and they get a positive feedback, they will buy from you. People pay more attention and trust their sources than what you say to them directly.
Hope this helps. I am willing to take any follow up questions. Text me if you have my contact.
-# & Harshit