How we change what others think, feel, believe and do

Log-rolling

Disciplines > Negotiation > Negotiation tactics > Log-rolling

Description | Example | Discussion | See also

Description

Make a range of requests, some of which are less important as well as those which are critical for you. When pressed or making an exchange, concede on items which are lower priority in order to get those which are higher priority.

Example

A person buying a car says that low cost and high performance are both important.
When offered a lower performance car they use their stated priorities to help reduce the price.

In a contract negotiation, the buyer tries to put in a number of strict sections about timescales and product features. Later, they concede on some of the features a little but keep the timescale which is more important.

Discussion

Negotiations often include concessions and exchanges as the players seek to find agreement. In order to exchange you have to have something give away. If all you have is things that are important to you, then you will lose out in any exchange. If, however, you have items that you would like but which are less important, you can gain by exchanging low value items for high value items.

The best way of doing this is to have items that are lf lower priority for you but which are higher priority for the other party. Such low-for-high exchanges are often called 'elegant variables'.