“Why waste time dealing with those other issues if we can’t even agree on price? Let’s just start with price and, if we can reach agreement on it, then we can address the rest.” This not-uncommon approach appears to make intuitive sense. After all, no one disputes the...
Thomas Edison added up the time and killing pace he had put into inventing the “Universal” stock ticker, a device later used by brokerage houses, and decided he was entitled to $5,000 for it. Ultimately, he figured he’d accept $3,000. So when General Lefferts, the...
Don’t Cut to the Chase — Prepare for Your Negotiations A small business owner with a huge potential opportunity in a negotiation with a large company contacted me recently and asked how to respond to the company’s request that he make them an offer. He told me...
Let’s say you’re sitting at your desk Monday morning, your telephone rings, and it’s Jane, opposing counsel in one of your cases, calling to see if you might be interested in discussing the offer she e-mailed you last week. Because you’re mostly up-to-speed on it, you...
In our last two posts, we discussed tips for negotiating with accommodative counterparts and tips for negotiating with competitive counterparts. To bring this series to a conclusion, here are three negotiation strategies to consider when your counterpart is a conflict...
Confidence and Success Come From Knowledge and Practice “I hate to negotiate,” some of my seminar participants tell me. “It makes me anxious, and I just don’t like horse-trading. What can I do?” “Treat it like a game,” I tell them. “Don’t take it personally. And study...
The Power of Preparation Always Makes a Difference What is the most universally ignored but most effective negotiation tool? Preparation. I conclude every one of my seminars with this statement: “Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. It’s guaranteed to succeed. The more you...
While lawyers are widely considered professional negotiators who negotiate a wide range of issues for their clients, a recent study casts some doubt on the negotiation effectiveness of some litigators, especially those representing plaintiffs. According to a New York...
My wife lost her cell phone antenna two days ago as she hiked through the woods near our house. Without the antenna, her cell coverage is extremely poor. So she stopped at a Radio Shack in town yesterday to see if she could get a replacement antenna at a reasonable...
