Essentials for Government Contract Negotiators

Chapter 14

The Vise Tactic

Now I want to show you a very effective tactic I learned by reading a book. In Secrets of Power Negotiating (Career Press, 2001), author Roger Dawson introduces something called the vise tactic. Now that’s not v-i-c-e, as in bad habits, but v-i-s-e, as in vise grip. And I think he named it appropriately, if he’s the one who coined the term, because it is very effective in squeezing out concessions from the other side without you having to reciprocate with a concession. The vise tactic is simply using one little phrase: You’ll have to do better than this. I know, it sounds simple, but learn to use that phrase.

I don’t care how good their proposal or counterproposal sounds to you. It could be a lot more than you expected. ...