“How can we use our large size and power to get our best deal, yet still avoid alienating smaller companies with whom we want a future relationship? After all, we value our reputation and don’t want them to feel we’re just imposing our terms.” This question, posed by...
Longtime Wall Street lawyer James Freund, counsel in many of the 1980s corporate takeover battles, wrote in his book Smart Negotiating that he almost always wanted to make the first offer on price issues as it sets the “ballpark where the action will...
My name is Marty Latz, and I am the founder of Latz Negotiation Institute, a national negotiation training and consulting company, and ExpertNegotiator, online software that helps individuals more effectively negotiate based on the experts’ research. I am also...
I often am asked what is the most powerful element in a negotiation – and I always answer “leverage.” Bottom line: Your leverage more than anything else increases your ability to accomplish your goals. How? First, let’s be clear, as leverage...
I recently led a seminar for about 200 procurement professionals in which we addressed how to gain leverage when there’s only one entity interested in selling to you. In procurement, this is the sole source problem. Importantly, almost every negotiator has faced a...
“We’re selling our company and trying really hard to be fair and reasonable, but the buyer with the most synergy is now being stubborn and taking a hardline on the tough financial issues. We’ve narrowed it down to them and have made excellent progress by exploring our...
One of former Chrysler president Lee Iacocca’s most formidable negotiation challenges occurred when Chrysler sought to avoid bankruptcy by negotiating with Congress in 1979 for a $1.5 billion loan guarantee. Most lawmakers initially believed government should not bail...
Impasses in three high-profile negotiations have recently focused the public’s attention on the nature of deadlock in negotiations – the Wisconsin Democrats’ walkout to Illinois, the federal budget showdown and just averted shutdown, and the NFL lockout. So how...
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...
