Hints:

L-I-M

Like, Intend, Must

Something that was sort of shared with me very early in my career was the mnemonic L-I-M and that's Like, Intend, Must. What would I like to do, what would I intend to do, and what must I do? And this is probably well illustrated by a recent contract that we negotiated in the UK with a major leisure company. And, I guess our 'like' was, we would like to win the business there and then, in the negotiation on that day. I guess our 'intend', was that we must leave that group thinking we are a very professional and competent outfit, who can best meet their needs. And I guess our 'must' was, we must have done enough to keep the dialogue open and ensure that our competitor didn't win the business on that day. So, the short answer is you don't always win.