No one likes to be told what to accept, even if it is a thing we would agree to.In negotiating for leases, telling the landlord how it’s going to be will likely get a hostile and unsuccessful response, even if he would have ordinarily agreed to more.Indicating that the acceptance of certain terms, comfortable or uncomfortable to the landlord, would keep their building as a finalist in your leasing comparables can say the same thing and garner a happy acceptance of your request.All landlords simply want to know they are still in the game.A clearly worded document drafted by you that is titled “Offer” has the air that if the items therein are agreed to, then there is and acceptance by the landlord.The reality is, your offer can always change later. If you know where you genuinely want to end up in all your categories, you needn’t spill the beans up front, especially if it is reasonable to think that large dollar and term negotiations may be required to get to the end zone. Likewise, people never know when the negotiations are over.There are no yard lines painted on the floor of the conference room indicating that you are on the 10 yard line when you are negotiating a certain element of your lease.Sitting there with the landlord, they usually have no clue what terms you have left to negotiate.Like the old television show Columbo, the affable, bumbling police detective made persistent headway when, as his foil thought the questioning was over and he was heading out the door, he would stop and say, “Just one more thing…..”In a lease negotiation, this can be successfully performed as you negotiate from item to item.If there are several very important elements that you must have agreement to and these may be bitter pills for the landlord to swallow, get the landlord pregnant with the prospect that in his mind many of the elements have been concluded.But he has no idea of the list of “just one more thing” items on your list.
Good landlords routinely ask trial close questions to avoid such a trap, such as “Exactly how many items do you have that are important to you if I agree to this item?”Good stuff.Or, “I will agree to this item if you agree to conclude your negotiations.” Another seemingly fatal blow.Not so.Always tell the landlord that these negotiations are in a comparative dynamic, that is to say that other buildings and your current building all are the measurement of whether the landlord’s terms are agreeable.Remove the decision from you personally, or your company, and drop the monkey on the back of the market that you are evaluating.You may or may not have concluded that his building is the perfect spot and you are just trying to better the negotiations, but he should be unable to see that point if “the market” is still in play.Saying yes to a landlord, that you agree to his trial close does not prevent you from saying, “just one more thing…..” at a later date.
