All posts with the ‘ strategy ’ Tag

It’s all nice and good to be able to negotiate when there is a contract, a fancy piece of paper that an attorney’s been paid to stick “wheretofors” and “hereafters” all over.  But what happens when you don’t have a written contract?  What happens when it’s a conversation over coffee and a handshake?

I want you to think of the most annoying person you’ve ever had to negotiate with.

Now think of the absolute best person you’ve ever negotiated with; your favorite negotiating partner.

Why were you negotiating with them?

No, not what were you negotiating about.  Why were you negotiating with that particular person?

You’re not alone if your answer is, “Because that’s who I was told … Read More

NEWS FLASH

I know.  It is a horrible realization.

In addition to getting The Girl, having the Best Car & being the Nicest Person you’ve ever met, those charming kids get to be better negotiators.

Why?

Well, because charming people are charming.

You want to talk to them; you want to spend time with them; you even want to be … Read More

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard recently (a while ago) started a (somewhat) daily blog.  It’s mostly edited versions of longer articles written by the professors that teach PON classes.  The posts have enough to spark your thinking and get yourself chewing on how you’d tackle that particular issue.

Professor Subramanian is one of my favorites.  He taught a good portion of the classes … Read More

Way back when we started hanging out, I talked a wee bit about the concept of “anchoring.”

Anchoring is what happens when one party in a negotiation names a price, a due date or a list of deliverables.  That number is the number all other suggestions, negotiations, conversation and demands will be measured against.

Once an anchor has dropped it is very hard to move, … Read More

I gotta say that one more time: You. Are. Hot.

Like “Joan Jett” hot.

Why?

Because you’ve made it this far along in our exciting journey of figuring out how, why and when to share information during a negotiation.

To summarize:  if you want the information you share to help you, you need to know who you’re negotiating with and what kind … Read More

The kind of negotiation I advocate is a style where information needs to be shared because you’re not talking with the other person about the thing you want, you’re talking about why you want what you want.

I believe that negotiations are essentially problem solving events, and, as such, it’s more important to know all the factors contributing to the problem than it is to … Read More

One of the harder things to figure out during a negotiation is when to share information and what information to share.

I regularly insist that negotiation is just problem solving in a different context and you need to involve your counterpart to find a solution.   That doesn’t mean that I think the other side is completely trustworthy and should be treated as if they were … Read More