Elmo Eveings. Gregory J. McKenzie

you can see from this brief synopsis page, our client is represented by a negotiator called Mrs. Hilary Sommersby. Now she is one tough cookie. I have had some real barneys with her in past negotiations. In this current round she has already driven one lead negotiator into a nervous breakdown. Poor Mr. Matters has had to book himself into a rest clinic. Mrs. Matters rang me with the bad news yesterday. His therapist says he will need two weeks complete rest. I need you to take over his team. They are rudderless at the moment."

       Overwhelmed by this unexpected opportunity, Elmo could only mouth vague generalities. In a confused tone of voice he said,

       "I hope Bill Matters will be okay. He and I started at this firm on the same day. His wife is a very nice woman. They have had me to dinner on more than one occasion. They have both tried to introduce me around socially. I must go to see Amy Matters very soon."

       Eloise Applegate beamed her smile into Elmo eyes when she said in an encouraging tone of voice,

       "That's what I want to hear from my people. Cooperative teamwork does not begin or end in the office. You are a credit to this firm Mr. Eveings. Now lets try to work out some strategies and tactics to get around Hilary Sommersby's objections. I like your use of the tactic of trading clauses. There are a few clauses that I know from personal experience annoy her in the extreme. We can be very flexible here as this is a very large account."

       Elmo was glowing with the aftereffects of the praise he got from this remarkable woman. So he came up with a lateral strategy to blindside this difficult negotiator. He said in a tentative tone of voice,

       "Supposing..just supposing, we first come at her hard....like pretend that the contract is set in concrete like the Empire State Building....You know old fashioned playing hard ball...then when she is ready to walk away we pretend to cave into her demands...But not all of them if you get the idea....That just might work."

       At once Eloise Applegate saw the genius behind this negotiating strategy. She said in a glowing tone of voice,

       "Brilliant! That's is pure gold Elmo. You make her angry deliberately then pretend to let her to walk all over you. Only she is too busy gloating over her victory that she won't notice the hook in that bait. Are you into recreational fishing Elmo? Its just that my Dad uses a similar ploy to catch ocean fish off our beach at Malabar."

       Elmo smiled as he recalled his lonely beach fishing trips. He always looked for any deserted beach. Then he would spends hours fighting for the fish that came in close to feed. Sharks would take his line, seaweed would twist it into a terrible jumble but Elmo would persist. He caught the big ones by letting them think they had escaped but he never quite let them go free. When they had exhausted themselves in triumphant shows of strength Elmo would reel them in slowly. So ye,s Elmo knew exactly what his boss was suggesting. He replied in a slow steady tone of voice,

       "Well I do a lot of fishing off beaches on my holidays. So I guess that is where this idea came from like you suspected."

       Eloise Applegate was glowing with goodwill. She said in a forward tone of voice,

       "You must come down to fish off my Dad's beach. Our beach house is big enough for lots of visitors. He has the biggest parties in the Bay. Come this next holiday weekend."

       Elmo nodded before replying in a happy tone,

       "Love to."

       Eloise continued as she warmed to the presence of this man,

       "Until then I think your idea to circumvent Hilary Sommersby is a winner. It will serve her right to be outwitted like that, so go ahead. You have my full support. Now let's look at each clause of the contract to see what bait we will use. This may take some time so let's go to lunch at my club. Gerald can come too and take down our ideas. He may even have a few of his own ideas to contribute. What do you say to my two offers Elmo?"

       Elmo had to reflect on what she said only for a few seconds before saying in a happy tone of voice,

       "Well I would love to fish off your father's beach. So yes to the weekend party invite. Can I bring a friend? As for the lunch I think that brainstorming over lunch is a great idea so yes to that too with bells as you Americans say all the time."

       His boss smiled weakly before saying,

       "Bring your friend down this weekend. Gerald can give you the address and directions over lunch. Now let's go and nail Hilary Sommersby with some killer ideas."

       With that they left the office only stopping to collect Gerald on their way to lunch.