Have you ever been in a negotiation where your counterpart manipulated the time, location or setting of the negotiation to attempt to make you feel less powerful? What should you do, for example, if your counterpart makes you wait for an hour after the scheduled...
Here are five psychological tendencies to keep in mind when tactically developing and/or negotiating an agenda (what issues to address and in what order): 1. Listeners remember the beginning and end of a presentation more than the middle. 2. Repetition of a message...
In a recent CBSSports.com article, Mike Freeman reported the meetings between NFL owners and players have changed to a polite environment where “jokes are exchanged… Handshakes are commonplace. So are smiles and chit chat;” much different from the previous...
A study by Wharton professors Alison Wood Brooks and Maurice Schweitzer found anxious negotiators made initial offers that were 7.5% lower on average than those from non-anxious participants. From this, the authors conclude negotiators might be able to improve their...
Walgreens had been negotiating a new prescription pricing deal with Express Scripts, Inc. but recently announced the negotiation had failed and it would be ending its relationship with Express Scripts at year end. Interestingly, Walgreens participated in a similar...
The language you use in making your offers and concessions and the signal it sends can have a strong impact on whether your offers or concessions will be accepted. Here are some general tips: Be specific and detailed Explain your rationale and tie your offer to...
As a manager, how can you get your front-line negotiators to change their behavior from instinctive to strategic based on the experts’ proven negotiation research? Here are a couple of tips: 1. Take baby steps. Don’t ask your negotiators to do everything the research...
Here are some effective listening techniques suggested by Professor Ralph Cagle at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School: 1. Want to listen 2. Stop talking 3. Don’t interrupt 4. Pay attention 5. Eliminate distractions 6. Encourage your counterpart to...
NBA Commissioner Daniel Stern, discussing the on-going negotiation between the NBA owners and players’ association, recently pointed out that, “The NFL, which is usually profitable as opposed to the NBA, which isn’t, got [a] double-digit [revenue] reduction from their...
New York Times science columnist John Tierney recently wrote: The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts, usually in either of two very different ways. One shortcut is to become...
What should you do if your counterpart asks you a tough question about strategically important information you don’t want to share, like what’s your bottom line or authority? I would never recommend lying – it’s morally wrong and you will be far less effective if you...
The Street reported today that ConAgra told Ralcorp it would “walk away from its $5.2 billion takeover bid” if Ralcorp doesn’t agree to begin negotiating by September 19th. The threat of a walkout is a tactic usually used for one or more of the following reasons: 1)...
