Tag: Negotiation

Negotation Mastery

Someone says “We’ve given you a fair offer”

Chris Labs

If you find yourself in this situation, the best reaction is to simply mirror the “F” that has just been lobbed at you. “Fair?” you’d respond, pausing to let the word’s power do to them as it was intended to do to you. Follow that with a label: “It semms like you’re ready to provide the evidence that supports that,” which alludes to opening their books or otherwise handing over information that will either contradict their claim to fairness or give you more data to work with than you had previously. Right away, you declaw the attack. –Never split the … Continue reading Someone says “We’ve given you a fair offer”

Negotation Mastery

If people feel they are given an unfair offer, they would rather decline it altogether.

Chris Labs

Most people make an irrational choice to let the dollar slip through their fingers rather than to accept a derisory offer, because the negative emotional value of unfairness outweighs the positive rational value of the money. –Never split the difference, p.123 Continue reading If people feel they are given an unfair offer, they would rather decline it altogether.

Negotation Mastery

There’s no such thing as fair.

Chris Labs

Let me tell you about the ultimatum game, it goes like this: After the students split into pairs of a “proposer” and an “accepter”, I give each proposer $10. The proposer has to offer the accepter a round number of dollars. If the accepter agress he or she receives what’s been offered and the proposer gets the rest. If the accepter refuses the offer, though, they both get nothing and the $10 goes back to me. No matter what slection they made, they find themselves in a minority. The splits were all different, $6/$4, $5/$5, $7/$3, $8/$2, etc. In something … Continue reading There’s no such thing as fair.

Negotation Mastery

To gauge the level of a particular threat, we’d pay attention to how many of the four questions – What? Who? When? And how? – were addressed.

Chris Labs

When people issue threats, they consciously or subconsciously create ambiguities and loopholes they fully intend to exploit. The more precise the answer to the four questions, the closer you’re getting to the counterparty’s deadline. –Never split the difference, p.118 Continue reading To gauge the level of a particular threat, we’d pay attention to how many of the four questions – What? Who? When? And how? – were addressed.

Negotation Mastery

Deadlines are mostly imaginery and never finals.

Chris Labs

No deal is better than a bad deal. When deadline approaches, we say and do impulsive things that are against our best interests. “The deal is off!” our mind screams at us in some imaginery future scenario. Deadlines are often arbitrary, almost always flexible, and hardly ever trigger the consequences we think – or are told- they will. –Never split the difference, p.117 Continue reading Deadlines are mostly imaginery and never finals.

Negotation Mastery

Don’t compromise

Chris Labs

No. Just, simply, no. Let me paint you an example: A woman wants her husband to wear black shoes with his suit. But her husband doesn’t want to; he prefers brown shoes. So what do they do? They compromise, they meet halfway. And, you guessed it, he wears one black and one brown shoe. Is this the best outcome? No! In fact, that’s the worst possible outcome. –Never split the difference, p.115 Continue reading Don’t compromise

Negotation Mastery

Get your counterpart to say “That’s right” ✅ But make sure it’s not “You’re right” ❌

Chris Labs

When your adversary say “That’s right,” they feel they have assessed what you’ve said and pronounced it as correct of their own free will. They embrace it. Why is “You’re right” a disaster? Consider this: Whenever someone is bothering you, and they just won’t let up, and they won’t listen to anything you have to say, what do you tell them to get them to shut up and go away? “You’re right”. It works every time. Tell people “you’re right” and they get a happy smile on their face and leave you alone for at least twenty-four hours. But you … Continue reading Get your counterpart to say “That’s right” ✅ But make sure it’s not “You’re right” ❌

Negotation Mastery

Someone ignores your emails?

Chris Labs

Send this one-sentence email. “Have you given up on this project?” The point is that this one-sentence email encapsulates the best of “No”-oriented questions and plays on your counterpart’s natural human aversion to loss. It offers the other party the feeling of safety and the illusion of control while encouraging them to define their position and explain it to you. Just as important, it makes the implicit threat that you will walk away on your own terms. –Never split the difference, p.92 Continue reading Someone ignores your emails?