Last week I wrote an email about Asking for the no: A negotiation lesson from Calvin & Hobbes, in which Calvin attempts to use a negotiation strategy called the door-in-the-face technique.
Today’s negotiation strategy is about the opposite method. It’s called the foot-in-the-door technique.
With this strategy, you start by asking your client some small and straightforward questions, one’s they are very likely to say “yes” to.
Then you scale up the questions, asking for more or bigger things. By responding “yes” several times consequently, they are now primed to continue saying “yes” to your larger demands.
For example, you could ask your client whether they agree it’s a good idea to generally follow Salesforce’s best practices. Then follow-up by asking them whether it makes sense to try and use standard fields before creating custom fields. If you ask the questions in this order, the client is more likely to say “yes” to both than if you start with the 2nd question 1st.
The takeaway
Both the foot-in-the-door and door-in-the-face techniques can be used effectively with tough clients. Depending on the context and client, use the one you believe would be more appropriate.