You Have Less Power Than Them. So What?

You Have Less Power Than Them. So What?

You Have Less Power Than Them So What

You Have Less Power Than Them. So What?

Negotiation Training

Power is one of the concepts that can make negotiation feel intimidating before the conversation has even started.

A supplier is much larger than your company. A customer represents a significant percentage of your revenue. One side has more information, more market influence, or simply more alternatives. In these situations, it is tempting to conclude that the stronger party will inevitably get the better deal.

But negotiation power is rarely as simple as it appears.

One of the most common mistakes negotiators make is confusing having power with being able to use it effectively. A company may have a stronger market position, a larger budget, or more alternatives, but that does not automatically mean it will negotiate better. Conversely, a party that appears to have limited leverage can often influence the outcome much more than expected.

The reason is that power in negotiation does not come from a single source.

Price is one source. Alternatives are another. But so are information, expertise, timing, relationships, credibility, access to decision makers, and the ability to understand what the other party actually values.

Consider a buyer negotiating with a supplier that appears to be in a stronger position. The supplier has greater market share and the buyer knows that switching would be difficult. It would be easy to enter the negotiation thinking, “They have all the leverage.”

But what else is happening in the relationship? Perhaps the buyer provides predictable volumes. Perhaps they have a strong reputation in the market. Perhaps they can offer better forecasts, faster decision-making, or opportunities for future business. Perhaps the supplier has internal pressure to retain strategic customers.

None of these factors may appear on a balance sheet as “negotiation power.” Yet they can significantly affect the conversation. This is why strong negotiators do not begin by asking only, “Who has more power?” They ask a more useful question:

“Where does each side get its leverage from?”

That question changes the preparation completely.

Instead of approaching a negotiation with a fixed perception of who is strong and who is weak, you start mapping the different sources of influence on both sides. You look at what each party needs, what they fear, what they value, what they know, and what they cannot easily replace.

This also changes the way you behave at the table.

When people believe they have little power, they often become overly accommodating. They make concessions too quickly, accept the other party’s framing of the discussion, or avoid asking difficult questions because they are afraid of damaging the relationship. Ironically, this can make their position even weaker.

A lack of formal power does not mean that you should negotiate passively. It means that you need to be more deliberate about where you can create influence. Preparation therefore becomes particularly important when you enter a negotiation from a weaker position. The less obvious leverage you have, the more important it becomes to understand the situation in detail:

  • What matters to the other party?
  • What constraints are they facing?
  • Who else is involved in the decision?
  • What information could change their perception of the deal?
  • Which elements of the agreement are genuinely important to them, and which are simply positions they have taken?

These questions can reveal that the power imbalance is not as absolute as it initially appeared.

There is also an important psychological element. Once we decide that the other party has more power, we tend to behave as if that conclusion were already a fact. We become more cautious, less ambitious, and more reactive. The counterpart may then perceive our behavior as confirmation that they are in control.

Breaking that cycle starts with changing the way we define power.

The goal is not to convince yourself that you are more powerful than you really are. It is to stop assuming that the other party’s strength automatically determines your outcome. Good negotiators do not need to have all the leverage. They need to understand where leverage exists, how it can be developed, and how it can be used without unnecessarily damaging the relationship.

And sometimes, the most powerful move in a negotiation is not to use the power you already have, but to find ways of changing the balance before you sit back at the table.

In the next video, CABL Founder Giuseppe Conti explores exactly this challenge: what you can do when you find yourself in a difficult negotiation with very little apparent power, and how preparation and anticipation can help you change the dynamics of the conversation.