Gill Sims, Head of Sales at Platonics Solutions, is preparing her presentation for John Burke, Head of Purchasing at BEC. However, she is rather taken aback by some of the notes in his file, reporting underhand, intimidating and rude behaviors. When Gill approaches a senior manager about John, he confirms that he was often abusive during presentations, would play on his phone or tablet while they were meeting, would shout and swear when anything that he didn't like was suggested (often seemingly without cause), and if the team didn't give him what he demanded, he would often just get up and walk out of the office. The last few times they had dealt with him, he admitted they just gave in to his intimidation, and lowered their prices, making the company account barely profitable at all.

 Gill is normally confident at negotiating with clients - its why she has been promoted so often - but presenting this deal to John is what concerns her. She is not sure how to play it: Go in hard and counter his bad behaviour with some of her own or address his behaviors directly and ask him to stop mucking about and talk to her properly. One thing she is sure of, she has no intention of letting him intimidate her into putting her prices down for an easy life like the previous manager.

 

Discuss why negotiators use difficult behaviors, explain to Gill the possible outcomes based on her options in this case, and offer advice on what you would do in this situation instead.