What is the empty wallet negotiating tactic?
Among hundreds of different negotiation techniques, there are several very popular ones. One of them is „Tactics – Empty Wallet”.
A technique in which one of the parties seems to be fully understanding of the arguments of the other party and submissive to the expectations of the negotiating partner, and the only obstacle that prevents reaching an agreement is insufficient financial resources.
Within this tactic:
- we gain the trust and sympathy of the other party,
- we build relationships, we compliment the seller and the goods,
- we show an above-average willingness to buy.
Unfortunately, we do not have sufficient funds to complete the order.
This tactic is not very effective in business relationships. There, each contract must defend itself with a minimum profit margin. However, it is widely used and extremely effective in family, friendship and social relationships.
Tactics – An empty wallet also works in business, but rather only where there are very high overheads (to put it simply – there is a lot to leave out), or where the parties have already built strong relationships and the implementation of one transaction will not strain the seller’s business, but will strengthen relations and pay off in the future.