Responding to an ultimatum at work

What is your strategy for responding to an ultimatum? 

Your Rant: I work with a vendor who is always laying ultimatums on me. He’ll guarantee a low price for only a short period of time, etc. It drives me crazy.

911 Repair:

Your letter reminded me of a fight I recently read about at the 45th Precinct police station in the Bronx, N.Y. Turns out that Paul Damore and Farrell Conroy started throwing punches over who would drive the car as they were leaving the station. If you haven’t guessed, Damore and Conroy are both New York police officers.
An ultimatum is like that fight between two of New York’s finest: It just doesn’t make any sense. You’re right, you should be partners with your vendors, not fighting or playing games with them. I’ve included strategies to move you toward a more productive relationship, below. For more, check out Ronald Shapiro and Mark Jakowski’s book, “Bullies, Tyrants and Impossible People” (Crown, 2005).

Can you expand the possibilities? If you’ll be buying more from this person, can you explore the possibility of adding more sales to this deal? If this is a possibility, use your leverage to renegotiate the time frame so it’s favorable to you. This is consistent with my favorite rule of negotiations: Never give something without asking for something in return.

Can you break it down? Take the time with them to break down the deal in terms of price, quantity, timeframe, etc. Explore where they appear to have some flexibility and where they don’t.

Can you take it conditionally? You can agree to the sale, but you can then place your own conditions on it. For example, that they have to deliver by a certain time, that they can deliver the exact quantity you want, etc. In other words, give them the sale, but leave yourself an out if they don’t respond to your exact needs.

Can you ignore it? Most of us in business are pretty compulsive. We hear everything the other side says and we assume they hear everything we say. But people forget, space-out or otherwise miss key details in any business relationship. One possible approach is to just ignore their ultimatums. (However, this does carry some risk.)

Can you ask what is causing the deadline pressure? In business we often have a secret weapon that we don’t use - just acknowledging what the other person is doing. “I’m feeling a lot of deadline pressure here. Can you tell me what is causing it?” Putting their strategy on the table gives you both the chance to talk about it and, possibly, explore your alternatives.

Can you find a new supplier who doesn’t play games? We get locked into having to deal with this vendor and their games. But chances are there are other people out there who would love your business. I’d always keep an eye out for other options, given this person’s games.

Use these tactics to avoid future fistfights with your vendors and hopefully you’ll start acting like you’re on the same team.

911 Pulse:

How do you deal with an ultimatum?

• Work through it, 40 percent
• Work around it, 40 percent
• Work against it, 20 percent

911 strategy:

Our winning strategy for dealing with an ultimatum comes from S.W. in cyberspace: “Creating a sense of urgency is a tried-and-true sales tactic. Sometimes, it is the vendor trying to book some revenue before the end of a period; often it’s just a negotiating tactic to get you to buy. My strategy for dealing with it if I know it’s just a naked grab for an order (usually if it’s an end-of-quarter thing they tell us) ‘I’m not prepared to buy it now, but I am by (insert date here). Can you extend your price to this day, or should we take care of it with an RFQ (request for quotations)?’”

Bob Rosner and Sherrie Campbell author the weekly internationally-syndicated workplace911 column. Bob’s a best-selling author and award-winning journalist who has personally responded to over 50,000 emails. Sherrie’s a relationship expert and award-winning comedian who has offered quick, intuitive and humorous responses to over 30,000 people. He’s been called “Dilbert, with a solution.” She’s the counselor with a kick. Watch our 911 team of consultants, authors, counselors and comedians—namely Bob & Sherrie—tackle the nastiest work wrecks in organizations and via seminars, TV, radio, newspapers, books, web sites and live on workplace911.com.