GEC Scenario #20: Contract Conditions

As a sales engineer, you led negotiation of a contract with a Chinese customer that commits them to purchasing a certain number of parts from your firm each year at a discounted price. The contract stipulated that if the minimum number of parts was not purchased each year, the price would go up substantially. Having bought only 10% of the product they originally committed to, the price was raised significantly after the first twelve months. Now you are sitting down with a senior executive and several of his associates in one of their conference rooms, and you can see the executive is very angry. Before you even have a chance to speak he starts berating you in Chinese, then throws an ashtray that shatters on the floor. What would you do?

1. Try to leave the room immediately and contact your boss.
2. Tell the executive that his behavior is not acceptable and he needs to cool off.
3. Try to calm down the angry executive and explain why you need to stick to the written contract.
4. Open up a conversation with the group about potentially renegotiating the contract.
5. Give the executive time to express his frustration, then explain that you value their business and want to discuss how to strengthen your relationship.
6. Stand up, go face-to-face with the angry executive, and tell him the price increase is not negotiable.