She wouldn’t budge. Despite our concerted efforts to illustrate the unreasonableness of her position, she had dug in her heels. Or so we were told. The negotiation? The purchase of a house. The participants? The seller, the seller’s real estate agent, the potential...
Let’s say I want to buy the house at 123 Negotiation Lane and it’s listed at $300,000. I do my research, analyze comparable sales in the neighborhood, find out its length on the market, evaluate its renovations and conclude it’s worth $290,000. Figuring I’ll pay...
“The thing I always try to keep in mind in any negotiation is to know what I want at the end of it. And I always make a practice of writing it down – what is victory for me? And then I set up a series of stages, as the negotiations unfold, and I always [try] to...
A client recently sent me a list of negotiation “games” its counterparts regularly use. The list ranged from lying about certain facts to falsely pretending not to understand critical issues. After we discussed how to counter these “games,” my client asked me which I...
“How can I make sure my counterpart walks away from the table feeling good about our deal,” a lawyer from one of the world’s largest corporations recently asked me. “I want to get the best deal, but I don’t want to harm the relationship...
“What should we do when our clients ask for discounts on our fees? We believe our fees are reasonable, and our clients agreed to them at the beginning of our engagement. But we also value our future relationship and don’t want our clients to feel unappreciated or that...
I spent hours preparing and trying to consider all of the strategic factors that would affect our potential partner’s evaluation. I brainstormed with colleagues, tested our presentation on others in the field, and tried to step into his shoes to list his anticipated...
“It’s tough out there, and it’s getting tougher. This economic slump is really affecting our business. We need to be especially focused on our bottom line in our negotiations with vendors, customers and everyone else. So how should we negotiate differently in this...
The recent financial crisis and the negotiations involving Wall Street, the Bush administration, the Federal Reserve and Congress have highlighted a number of critical negotiation lessons. Here are three: Recognize the power of precedent. Bear Stearns’ demise...
