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Making the Right First Offer

New research from Professor Shirli Kopelman finds “first movers paradoxically feel less satisfied” with their results despite empirical evidence that, in price negotiations, making the first offer often leads to better results. To temper this unhappiness,...

People are More Likely to Say Yes to People They Like

The headline, People Do Business With People They Like, on Forbes.com recently reminded me that building rapport is also very important when negotiating. In his book, Influence: Science and Practice, psychologist Robert Cialdini calls this phenomena the Liking Rule...

Social Proof and the Tip Jar

One way we use to decide how to behave in a given situation is to observe how others are behaving. Put another way, we take the actions of those around us into account when determining our own actions. This is the Principle of Social Proof and it’s especially...

Does Chelsea Really Have a Plan B?

Chelsea, an English Premier League soccer team, has made two offers to competitor Manchester United to acquire the services of striker Wayne Rooney. The first was for about £20 million and the second for over £25 million. Manchester United rejected both. Chelsea has...

The Impact of the Government Default Deadline

Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, in a letter sent to lawmakers, warned the federal government will run out of money to pay its bills on Oct. 17th at the latest. What is the impact of this impending deadline on the debt ceiling and government funding...

When to Make the First Offer

When evaluating whether to make the first offer in a negotiation, here are several factors that support doing so: 1) Your side traditionally makes the first offer; 2) You have sufficient information to determine an appropriate starting point; 3) It will substantially...

Negotiation Tips for the Holiday Season

Here are some of our favorite blog posts (and a column) with good negotiation advice for the holiday season: Family Negotiations and the Holiday Season – Negotiation tips for avoiding family conflicts during the holidays; Black Friday and Social Proof –...

Tips for Negotiating with Competitive Counterparts

In a previous blog, we identified the top ten characteristics of competitive negotiators. As a follow-up, here are three negotiation strategies to implement when your counterpart fits the profile of a competitive, hard-nosed, adversarial, ego driven, risk-taking,...