Lady and the BATNA

Let’s talk about a scene in Disney’s Lady and the Tramp that features a negotiation. Lady has just gotten muzzled, and she and the tramp are looking desperately to get the muzzle off. Neither of them has opposable thumbs, which complicates the situation. Enter: the busy beaver. From behind some brush, they spy a beaver meticulously measuring and then gnawing off portions of a sycamore to build a dam. The tramp has an idea. He approaches the beaver with an offer: a log puller.

“Did you say log puller?”

The tramp laughs ostentatiously and then proceeds to rebrand the muzzle into a hot commodity. “And by a lucky coincidence you see before you modeled by the lovely little Lady, the new, improved, patented, handy-dandy-never-fail Little Giant Log Puller; the busy beaver’s friend.”

“You don’t say!”

“Guaranteed not to wear, tear, rip, or ravel. Turn around, sister, and show the customer the merchandise. And it cuts log-hauling time sixty-six percent.”

The beaver requests a test run to make sure it fits, and Lady and the tramp oblige. When the beaver tries to retrieve it from its involuntary model, it catches. He asks how to remove the thing.

“Glad you brought that up, friend,” says the tramp. “Glad you brought that up. To remove it, simply place the strap between your teeth.” He directs the beaver to bite—“hard”—and the strap miraculously comes off. Lady is free! As she and the tramp head off, the beaver stops them.

“Uh uh uh uh, not so fast, now, sonny. I’ll have to make certain it’s satisfactory before we settle on a price.”

That’s when they tell him it’s a free sample.

The beaver lights up. He tests the log puller/muzzle right away and—a dramatic tumble into the swamp notwithstanding—seems delighted with his new gadget. “It works swell!”

Everyone in the scenario has won.

We can learn a few lessons about negotiation from this scene:

1. Negotiations can be win-win situations for all parties involved.
2. Sales are not what you think they are.
3. It’s important to know your client’s BATNA.
4. You have options to leverage when you encounter resistance points.

NEGOTIATIONS CAN BE WIN-WIN SITUATIONS FOR ALL PARTIES INVOLVED

If you’ve watched Maestro’s Negotiations module, you know that B2B negotiations often involve creating something new that neither party could accomplish on their own. The tramp knows that he needs to get the muzzle off Lady’s face, but this would be useless without the knowledge of what constitutes a win for the beaver.

The beaver needs to satisfy his innate, unrelenting obsession with building dams (see: bevy of adorable Instagram videos showcasing this obsession). The win-win occurs when the beaver removes the muzzle AND in so doing, gains a new dam-building tool. Everybody’s happy.  

SALES ARE NOT WHAT YOU THINK THEY ARE

Maestro defines sales as two parties moving in parallel deciding when to bend toward each other.

A negotiation doesn’t have to be a battle. Tramp and the beaver’s paths bend toward each other when a scenario that would realize both parties’ goals presents itself. They work toward the close of this deal together.

IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW YOUR CLIENT’S BATNA

BATNA stands for best alternative to a negotiated agreement. Lucky for the tramp, the beaver’s only BATNA is maintaining the status quo (or maybe this also counts as an in-house solution?). No other marketplace competitors exist—in part, because the log puller is a sham product.

Your negotiation partners, however, might have real alternatives available to them, or they might, like the beaver, consider the status quo an option. Whatever the situation, it can be invaluable for you to know who or what you’re trying to best before entering into negotiations.

YOU HAVE OPTIONS TO LEVERAGE WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER RESISTANCE POINTS—AND THEY’RE NOT ALL DISCOUNTS

Identify and use non-price concessions and levers to help you in the event of resistance. You can provide valuable services and gifts without losing money on a deal. The very essence of the tramp-and-beaver deal was a non-price concession. It was a free trial, pilot program, and proof-of-concept all in one.

Okay, the end product was also entirely free. And okay, this concession might have benefitted Lady and the tramp at least as much as—if not more than—it benefitted the beaver. But you get my point. There are ways to provide value-driven allowances that don’t involve slashing the price of your product.

And here are some lessons NOT to take from this scene:

• Do not defraud your clients.
• Do not make claims or promises about your product that are either highly suspect, patently untrue, or encourage the buyer to catapult themselves over a tree canopy and into a swamp.
• Do not negotiate in bad faith.
• Do not test new products out on clients without their consent.
• Do not forget that long-term relationships are important. If you’ve checked out our Negotiations module, you’ll know that we consider the close of a sale to be the start of your relationship with your new client. It is, as they say, only the beginning. Lady and the tramp ran off before they had the opportunity to forge this kind of connection with the beaver, but I like to think that they came back. And also that they got sued for false patent marketing.

If you’re interested in a new, improved, patented, handy-dandy-never-fail Little Giant Log Puller, we know a guy. If you’re interested in our Negotiations module, click here or reach out to us at mastery@maestrogroup.co.