Top negotiating marks to the butcher in the first week of “Apprentice”, who implemented his negotiating threat when the team led by Dan “shouty” Harris ignored him. He was asked to quote a price for sausage meat and the Apprentice team told him they would check out prices elsewhere and come back to him. “It may not be the same price when you do” he warned them.
Sure enough, when they came back to him having realised that his initial price was a good one, he put that price up. The Apprentice team were suitably indignant about it, but he reminded them of the earlier conversation, saying “I told you that the price would change”.
This was great use of pressure in the bargaining phase of a negotiation, but also a good reminder that if you make a threat, you need to see it through. Had our friendly butcher not increased the price his negotiating credibility would have completely evaporated.