year period.
Then things went sideways.
Instead of waiting for Bruno to name a price, Joaquin
jumped the gun and made his full offer, telling Bruno that
he thought it was “very fair.” If there’s one way to put off
your counterpart, it’s by implying that disagreeing with you
is unfair.
What happened next proved that.
Bruno angrily hung up the phone and two days later
Joaquin received an email from a guy saying he’d been
hired to represent Bruno. They wanted €30,812: €20,000 for
the loan, €4,000 for salary, €6,230 for equity, and €582 for
interest.
Nonround figures that seemed unchangeable in their
specificity. This guy was a pro.
Jesus told Joaquin that he’d truly screwed up. But they
both knew that Bruno was pretty desperate to sell. So they
decided to use the multi-step “No” strategy to get Bruno to
bid against himself. The worst-case scenario, they decided,
was that Bruno would just change his mind about selling his
shares and the status quo would continue. It was a risk
they’d have to take.
They crafted their first “No” message:
The price you offered is very fair, and I certainly
wish that I could afford it. Bruno has worked very
hard for this business, and he deserves to be
compensated appropriately. I am very sorry, but
wish you the best of luck.