Doomsday

Disciplines > Negotiation > Negotiation tactics > Doomsday

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

Paint an overly black picture. Describe the outcome of any suggestion in negative terms. Be pessimistic and gloomy.

When they make a suggestion, suck through your teeth and describe how bad this is.

When you are describing your own situation, show how badly-off you are and how you cannot afford what the other person is asking.

Of course, you describe only the things you do not want in this negative way.

Against this, you can describe the things you want as a ray of light that relieves the gloom of alternative solutions.

Example

I suppose we could go out, but it looks like rain and the car is having problems.

It's a nice house, but it needs decorating, the area is going downhill and it's a long way to drive to work.

It may look like a good investment now, but the markets may go down next year.

Discussion

Painting something black often is playing with percentages, suggesting that something that has a probability of X actually has a probability of Y. Where things are uncertain, then it is easy to argue the percentage points.

Against this pessimistic description, an optimistic alternative provides a welcome contrast.