Negotiating For Profit
By James A. Gage
Your approach in a negotiation dramatically affects the outcome of the deal. I've
distilled this concept down to three essential principles. These principles are
always at work for you and will help you get what you want smoothly.
Get the Other Side to Commit First
Skilled negotiators know that you're better off if you can get the other side to
commit to a position first. Several reasons are obvious:
1) Their first offer may be much better than you expected.
2) You get information about the other party before you have to tell them
anything
about your self or your bottom line.
* Next 37 17 investors only!
3) You can bracket their proposal. If they
state a price first, you can bracket them, so if you end up splitting the
difference, you'll get what you want.
The less you know about the other side's limits, the more important the principle
of not showing all your cards. In the case that both sides know not to go first,
don't sit there forever while both sides refuse to put a number on the table. As
a rule, though, you should strive to find out what the other side wants first.
Act Dumb, Not Smart
To a great negotiator, smart is dumb and dumb is smart. When you are negotiating,
you're better off acting as if you know less than everybody else does, not more.
The dumber you act, the better off you are unless your apparent I.Q. sinks to a
point where you lack any credibility. There is a good reason for this.
With a few rare exceptions, human beings tend to help people that they see as
less intelligent or informed, rather than taking advantage of them. Of course
there are a few
ruthless people out there who will try to take advantage of the weak, but most
people want to compete with those they see as brighter and help those they see as
less bright. So the reason for acting dumb is that it diffuses the competitive
spirit of the other side.
How can you fight someone who is asking you to help them negotiate with you? How
can you carry on any type of competitive banter with a person who says, "I don't
know, what do you think?" Most people, when faced with this situation, feel sorry
for the other person and go out of their way to help him or her.
Ever watch the TV show Columbo? Peter Falk played a detective who walked around
in an old raincoat and a mental fog, chewing on an old cigar butt. He constantly
wore an expression that suggested he had just misplaced something and couldn't
even remember what it was. In fact, his success was directly attributable to how
smart he was - by acting dumb. His demeanor was so disarming that the murderers
themselves came close to wanting him to solve his cases because he appeared to be
so helpless.
Concentrate on the Issues
Negotiators know that they should concentrate on the issues and not be
distracted by the actions of the other negotiators. If you've ever watched tennis
on television and seen a highly emotional star jumping up and down at the other
end of the court, you may have wondered to yourself, "How on Earth can anybody
play tennis against somebody like that? It's such a game of concentration; it
doesn't seem fair."
The answer is that good tennis players understand that only one thing affects the
outcome of the game of tennis: the movement of the ball across the net. What the
other player is doing doesn't change the outcome of the game, as long as you know
what the ball is doing. So, tennis players learn to concentrate on the ball, not
on the other person. When you're negotiating, the ball is the movement of the
goal concessions across the negotiation table. It's the only thing that affects
the outcome of the game.
Superior negotiators always want the other party thinking that they came out the
winner. Start by asking for more than you expect to get. Continue by serving up
some gambits that are designed to service the perception that the other side is
winning. End by congratulating the other side. If you let these principles guide
your conduct when you're negotiating, they will serve you well and help you
become a Power Negotiator.
James A. Gage. is a best-selling author and internationally known expert in lease
purchase, AKA rent to own real estate investing and negotiating. He mentors
one-on-one throughout the U.S. and across the world. Director of the Gage
Consulting Group, LCC (www.jgage.com) in Holden, MA, James can be reached at
(508) 595-9567 or
coach@jgage.com.
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