Always Negotiate, Never Haggle

Yesterday, we discussed how to be a spymaster in your league. It’s a role that’s both fun and rewarding. As usual, we had a good chat session in the comments. I was also emailed a reminder of a previous life – an article titled “Negotiation is not the same as haggling.”

First, some background. Not many years ago, I was jobless and living in Atlanta. So I joined a temp agency. I told them one thing – no sales jobs. Naturally, they immediately sent me to a company with a program to develop temps into software salesmen. Being competitive, I outperformed the other recruits and was the first person to earn a promotion from sales associate (i.e. telemarketer) to account manager (i.e. the actual salesman).

I spent about two years in that job, writing my Daily Grind column in the morning then living, breathing, and pooping ad hoc reporting for the rest of the day. As a salesman who hated salesmen, I sought strategies to defy the traditional approach while still closing business. Clever and baseball obsessed as I am, I called it “pitching backwards.”

It occurs to me that many of my sales strategies and tactics can be applied to fantasy baseball. Today we’ll just focus on one – always negotiate, never haggle.

Haggling is an uninformed grab for more value in a deal. To a gentleman, it is uncouth. To anyone, it can be insulting. A negotiation is a two-way exchange. It requires honesty or at least perceived honesty. ‘Trust’ might be another way to put it. When closing a deal for our software, I would say: “this is how we value our software for your installation. Describe to me (again) your use case and plans.”

Unsurprisingly, our list price was a bargain for a few prospective clients, but most wanted to pay less. The culture of corporate haggling is prevalent (including my boss). After the heady days of the late ’90’s, companies now employ specialized buyers for their technology purchases. Usually, the first thing the buyer would say is something to the effect of “knock 25 percent off the total and you have a deal.” That’s haggling. I would ask a bunch of questions that amounted to “why?” I’d say things like, “I can get discounts approved, but I have to understand why you need them.” After a few conversations, the buyer would accept that I was open to negotiation but wouldn’t cave to demands.

Let’s face it, a fantasy baseball trade is a lot less sophisticated (or important) than a six-figure technology deal. As a salesman, I would often use time as a means to overcome budgetary issues. If you can’t pay all now, then pay more later. In our little world, it’s almost impossible to avoid some form of haggling because there is rarely an opportunity  to use the dimension of time. Many leagues expressly or implicitly forbid players to be named later.

Still, there is plenty of opportunity to become known among your peers as a fair negotiator. As some of my rivals can attest, I often frame trade inquiries as “$3 Tanner Roark + X = $16 Jake Arrieta.” Or I’ll open by saying, “I was thinking about X for Y, but obviously we’ll need some other parts. Let’s discuss how we value these two guys to see if a negotiation makes sense.”

Basically, you have to lay some of your cards on the table if you want to hold a proper fantasy baseball negotiation. By laying some earnest groundwork at the beginning of a trade talk, it feels more like a negotiation. Most fantasy owners simply jump into a pattern of offer-counter-counter-walk, leaving one or both owners disgruntled. By properly prepping the discussion, you can have that back and forth exchange without the dirty feel of haggling. What’s more, your prospective trade partner is less likely (in my experience) to solicit other last minute offers.

The theme of these last two days is to be a civilized person. That doesn’t mean you should be a pushover. My leaguemates will be the first to tell you that I stick to my valuations. Sometimes we walk away grumpy, but for us it’s a short-lived feeling. We understand each other, we just weren’t a match today. We’re negotiating.