TIME WOUNDS ALL DEALS, SOMETIMES EVEN FATALLY

TIME WOUNDS ALL DEALS, SOMETIMES EVEN FATALLY

One of the most commonly heard maxims in negotiating is that time kills all deals. I know it did not take me very long to figure out why. In the end, this lesson cost me upwards of $250K worth of deals.

The hands of a clock are the deadliest of all saboteurs. Something that was locked in a mere 24hrs ago, is now mired in objections and excuses and well on its way to the graveyard. The longer the clock runs, the more surprises will await you. Those surprises are usually some form of three points.

1). The market moves underneath you before a deal is finalized making the transaction now impotent.

2). Sellers that are not attended to in a timely fashion get cold feet and renege on the agreement.

3). Unexpected delays cause potential buyers to move on.

As obvious a problem as this is, the reason is less apparent. Pulling the thread eventually leads to the moral questions of human nature - which I will make no attempt to answer. However, the simplest explanation I can think of is that humans are naturally impatient. The world of one-click buy has not helped. The precipitous drop in attention span evinces the point. Down 44% since the year 2000.

Through this lens, it's easier to understand why potential clients become wayward sheep. If follow-up is the ability to move quickly, then tempoed follow-up is the ability to move quickly, and consistently. Stable pace is a competitive advantage. Therein lies your solution. Don't let the momentum of a soft agreement go to waste. Keep everyone at the table until you have something hard on paper. I would rather lose a deal because I pushed too hard than not hard enough.

"Quickness is the essence of war." -Sun Tzu