Tag: Negotiation

Negotation Mastery

Your counterpart is acting not rationally (to you)?

Chris Labs

They probably have hidden interests. Your counterpart will often reject offers for reasons that have nothing to do with their merits. Ex: A client may put off buying your product so that their calendar year closes before the invoice hits, increasing his chance for a promotion. Or an employee might quit in the middle of a career-making project, just before bonus season, because he or she has learned that colleagues are making more money. For that employee, fairness is as much an interest as money. Whatever the specifics, these people are not acting irrationally. They are simply complying with needs … Continue reading Your counterpart is acting not rationally (to you)?

Negotation Mastery

It is when we hear or see something that doesn’t make sense – something “crazy” – that you need to push forward, even more forcefully.

Chris Labs

It is when we hear or see something that doesn’t make sense – something “crazy” – that a crucial fork in the road is presented: push forward, even more forcefully, into that which we initially can’t process; or take the other path, the one to guaranteed failure. […] when we’re most ready to throw our hands up and declare “They’re crazy!” is often the best moment for discovering Black Swans that transform a negotiation. –Never split the difference, p.232 Continue reading It is when we hear or see something that doesn’t make sense – something “crazy” – that you need to push forward, even more forcefully.

Negotation Mastery

Know your counterpart’s religion

Chris Labs

Knowing your counterpart’s religion is more than just gaining normative leverage per se. Rather, it’s gaining a holistic understanding of your counterpart’s worldview. It’s extremely effective in large part because it has authority over them. The other guy’s “religion” is what the market, the experts, God, or society – whatever matters to him – has determined to be fair or just. –Never split the difference, p.228 Continue reading Know your counterpart’s religion

Negotation Mastery

It often doesn’t matter what leverage actually exists against you; what really matters is the leverage they think you have on them.

Chris Labs

That’s why I say there’s always leverage: as an essentially emotional concept, it can be manufactured whether it exists or not. If they’re talking to you, you have leverage. Who has leverage in a kidnapping? The kidnapper or the victim’s family? Most people think the kidnapper has all the leverage.. But how many buyers do the kidnappers have for the commodity they are trying to sell? –Never split the difference, p.221 Continue reading It often doesn’t matter what leverage actually exists against you; what really matters is the leverage they think you have on them.

Learnings

Be on the lookout for Black Swans

Chris Labs

In negotiation, there are those things we don’t know that we don’t know, pieces of information we’ve never imagined but that would be game changing if uncovered. Maybe our counterpart wants the deal to fail because he’s leaving for a competitor. Hypothesize that in every negotiation each side is in possession of at least three Black Swans. Always ask yourself: “Why are they communicating what they are communicating right now?” Sometimes, your counterpart might be oblivious to a Black Swan or unaware of its importance. –Never split the difference, p.219 Continue reading Be on the lookout for Black Swans

Negotation Mastery

Ackerman Bargaining

Chris Labs

It’s an offer-counteroffer method, at least on the surface. But it’s a very effective system for beating the usual lackluster bargaining dynamic, which has the predictable result of meeting in the middle. It’s 4 steps: Set your target price (your goal). Set your first offer at 65% of your target price. Calculate three raises of decreasing increments (to 85, 95 and 100 percent). Use lots of empathy and different ways of saying “No” to get the other side to counter before you increase your offer. When calculating the final amount, use precise, nonround numbers like, say, $37,893 rather than $38,000. … Continue reading Ackerman Bargaining