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BOP, MOP and Stop Negotiations

One of the clients I worked with wanted a refresher course on negotiation. And not the full page ad like you see in the airline magazines next to the ad for; “even cheaper and just as effective” noise cancelling headphones. They specifically asked for a catchy outline that sales people can even remember.

So I negotiated a fee and introduced them to the BOP, MOP and STOP method. Now I am not a negotiating expert but have negotiated comprehensive agreements with HP, Boeing, Intel, Fannie Mae, Lockheed Martin, etc. So I get it. Here is the mindset I proffered to be taken into every negotiation;

BOP; is defined as the Best Outcome Possible, highest price paid for the product/service one can conceive to be realistic under perfect circumstances.

MOP; is the Minimal Outcome Possible or the lowest price you will accept for your product and service in a negotiated agreement.

STOP; is any number below MOP that is unacceptable value and you walk away from the negotiation.

Now I purposefully omitted BAFO (Best and Final Offer) as this is MOP and is, under no circumstances, negotiated. If a negotiator moves off of BAFO, BAFO then becomes a Basically Almost Final Offer. Moving off BAFO also makes a negotiator look Baffled, Acquiescent, Flexible, and Obtuse.

Walking away is the toughest part of the negotiation process which is why the door should be left open via some time constraint placed on the offer or negotiating time for the offer. And do not extend the terms for the offer. This saps positional power from you. If an offer expires it can be regenerated, reworked, re-offered or removed.

Buyers, especially in enterprise software often take the same courses (literally) as software sales people. What you are formally trained to do, they are formally trained to undue. I hear some objections so regularly it seems as if all buyers go to the same course (they do);

“We do not have that much in the budget.”
“I get ‘X’ percent off from another vendor you compete with.”
“Your competition did ‘Y’ and I expect you want to match.”
“Our corporate policy is to only….(insert discount request here).”

A mentor of mine put it best;

“The worst outcome, the absolute worse outcome, is they continue not to buy from you.”
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