How to plan and win a trading war.

Planning a warI’ve recently had three “crisis negotiation” calls, each of them coming at the point at which communication between the two parties has already broken down and actual trading has stopped. Of course it’s possible to recover, and to come out strongly from that position, but it’s a lot easier if you’ve seen it coming and laid your plans in advance. So here’s how to plan, and win, a trading war.

Going to war with a trading partner will cost you money and damage your relationship. But sometimes it’s the only way to respond to an outrageous demand or to step-change your profitability. Whoever wins gains a powerful precedent and a lasting psychological advantage, so it’s essential you go in with a clear objective and a very sound plan. Click the title to read more about each of the five steps.

Choose your weapons: Look across all the products, services, contacts and the competitive landscape that you share. Find the pressure-points that will put the most immediate and most powerful pressure on your counterparts

Time your Attack: Identify when your action will be most acutely felt, and when you will have the longest possible time to sustain it without damaging yourself

Plan the battle: Map out the scenarios that could unfold. Ask yourself: How might they respond? What’s the worst they could do? Would they do it? How could you mitigate it? At what point will you walk away?

Force the issue: To pull them back to the table you need to put things in place that willratchet up the pressure on them, whilst at the same time, offsetting the impact on your own business. How long could you hold out, and how could you last longer? What can you put in place now that could create severe pain for them if they stopped trading?

Protect the relationship: Plan what you want the relationship to be like after the war, and hold this in your mind as you go through the phases. Use it to help shape all of your language and behaviours

BOTTOM LINE: Don’t stumble blindly into a war-zone. As soon as you see a hostile action coming, grab your tin hat and start making serious plans.