How many times have you heard ‘A picture is worth a thousand words?’ Interestingly, it’s largely true in the negotiation world. Remember the last time you bought a car and the salesperson offered you an extended warranty? I doubt he appealed to your analytical...
“I would love to do the deal, but my boss is being unreasonable. I really need you to move on this issue to convince my boss to sign. Can you help me out?” Here, I’m the good cop and my boss is the bad cop. Is this common? Yes. Effective? Sometimes....
Rarely does a day go by that I don’t read in a newspaper about a high-profile negotiation. Perhaps it is a union picketing when talks break down, or a board of directors trying to fend off an unwanted merger. It might even involve the possible settlement of a...
“Can’t we just cut to the chase if we know where the parties usually end? It’s a colossal waste of time and money to do the dance.” As my regular readers know, I usually recommend the dance. First, most negotiators truly haven’t done their...
“I couldn’t believe it,” he told me. “While I was an outside consultant, this company followed all my recommendations. Then I went full-time with them and my success rate plummeted to 50 percent. What happened?” “Excellent question,” I responded. “The answer? Status...
“What else can we do?” I asked my agent. “He sounds pretty stubborn on this point.” “I’m not sure,” my agent responded. “Let’s give it some thought. I pride myself on my creativity and coming up with nontraditional ways to resolve parties’ differences. Let’s put on...
In “The Negotiator,” actor Samuel Jackson plays a police hostage negotiator who takes his own hostages to prove his fellow officers framed him for murder. During an incredibly tense scene, Jackson drags one of his hostages from view while screaming into the phone. We...
You want a new house, and you’re considering whether to hire a real estate agent or go it alone. Or perhaps you’re selling your business, and an investment banker wants to represent you in lining up potential buyers. You might even manage a sales force, and are...
In a perfect world, nobody would completely lose control or say or e-mail things they regret, and all major decisions would be based on the experts’ research. Of course, we don’t live in a perfect world. So what should we do when our counterparts’ know exactly when...
