Negotiation Columns & Blogs
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Consider These Factors Before Making The First Offer
Should you make the first offer, or get your counterpart to take the first step? In many negotiations, this can be the most critical strategic decision you make. Early in my career, I heard that you should never make the first offer. Frankly, this is unrealistic....
Watch Out when Negotiating with Someone Playing Dumb
“How can I negotiate with someone who doesn’t really understand how the negotiation process works? And so they say and do things that don’t make any sense, or are so reluctant to open up and explore possible mutual interests that we all may end up losing out on a...
Offer and Concession Strategies: How Much to Budge
When it comes to negotiations, I’m often asked: “How much should we move in a negotiation after we open? And how much should we move later, and when and how? I usually respond with the following story. John had just filed for divorce and was representing himself in...
Offer/Concession Strategy Must Reflect Ultimate Goal
I bought my first car in 1987. It was the shortest negotiation in my life. My dad offered to sell me his 1981 Datsun 280ZX for its “Blue Book” value, $5,500. I said, “OK.” End of negotiation. “Wait a second,” some of you might say. “Didn’t you once write that first...
Nuances Of Negotiations Should Include Reciprocity, Concessions
We needed some extra tile to fully renovate the kitchen in our new vacation home, so we asked the seller about it, and he offered to sell it for around $800. After doing some Internet research and asking the opinion of a flooring shop owner, I told the seller a...
Obama Learns Lesson in Negotiation Tactics
President Barack Obama said on Feb. 9, "I suppose what I could have done is started off with no tax cuts (in the stimulus bill), knowing that I was going to want some, and then let (the Republicans) take credit for all of them. And maybe that's the lesson I learned."...
Explore, identify and evaluate those unrealistic expectations
“He doesn’t get it. He believes his business is worth $50 million when it’s highly unlikely any buyer will pay more than $25 million based on his financials. How can I help him reset his expectations without seeming too negative regarding the sale of a business he...
Learn how to give and receive
“It’s your turn,” he said. “I conceded on the close date and it’s time for you to move and extend the royalty term.” This “reciprocity” standard – it is “fair and reasonable” for you to do this for me because I did something like this for you in the past – can be...
How to advance price talk
I recently reached a dead-end in a negotiation largely involving one major price issue. I didn’t want to come down – and my counterpart wouldn’t go up. And I knew he had reached his end point, because he had already gone back to his boss twice for more, and we had a...
Locking Out is Bad Negotiation Tactic
Filmmaker and Phoenix native Steven Spielberg was 13 when, as he tells it, a “local bully gave me nothing but grief all year long. He would knock me down on the grass, or hold my head in the drinking fountain, or push my face in the dirt and give me bloody noses when...
When to limit the power to concede
“How much authority should we give our front-line negotiators,” I was recently asked. “They constantly ask for more, but the more we give the more they use. On the other hand, they aren’t taken seriously if we don’t give them enough.” This is a challenging strategic...
Leverage: Understanding and Exercising It Is Key
You’re the CEO of a company employing a quarter of the city’s employees. Your company provides a significant portion of the city’s tax revenue but neither you nor your company is active in the community’s political affairs. Recently, you decided to expand your...
Negotiating from Strength, Even if You Don’t Have Any
“We’re going to court,” she told me during a break in my negotiation seminar. “What else can we do? We really want to sell, and my brother-in-law’s `best offer’ for our share of the family business will only give us 10 percent of what it’s worth. Plus, the...
You May Be Stronger, But Be Savvy In Using Leverage
“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...
Want To Make A Deal? Don’t Let Them See You Sweat
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 occur." He's...
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Learn Latz's 5 Golden Rules of Negotiation.
Get Marty Latz's 5-minute lessons weekly with research findings and practical tips to be an expert negotiator. We won't share your info. (privacy policy).
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