The Art of Negotiation summary

Just like you wouldn’t make a recipe without first preparing the ingredients, you should also thoroughly prepare yourself before negotiations.

Before approaching your negotiation partner, ask yourself: “When is the best time to negotiate this particular deal?” You should always try to schedule negotiations at the most advantageous time. You wouldn’t, for example, try to sell your ski equipment in the spring! You’d be more prudent to wait until fall, when people are more interested in skiing, and thus your offer.

Despite their knack for putting on a good poker face, professional negotiators get nervous, too. Sometimes they’re unsure about their odds of success or fear that they might embarrass themselves.

Nevertheless, as professionals they are able to control their emotional reactions, which is crucial in negotiations.

Successful negotiators know that they should always expect the unexpected. But how can you prepare yourself for these inevitable surprises?

You’ll need to learn how to think on your feet – to improvise – and the best way to learn how is to think like an actor.

What do chess and negotiation have in common? Success in both require experience and foresight.

Take this psychological experiment, for example, in which chess pieces were arranged in random order on a chessboard and then given to participants. Participants had only a glimpse of the board before they were asked then to recreate the arrangement of chess pieces.

People often say that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression,” and this is especially true in negotiation. First impressions establish both the atmosphere of the negotiation as well as your relationship with the negotiation partner. As such, it’s important that you follow these guidelines:

First, watch your language! Use words and phrases that emphasize your shared interests. For example, rather than saying “I need to do X,” say things like “Let’s solve this problem together.”

Sometimes you will get stuck in your negotiation. So, what should you do? Give in, or get creative?

Thinking outside the box is more than just a cliché – it’s essential. Sometimes, it’s the difference between success and months of wasted work.

All your hard work leading up to the negotiation is worthless if you don’t know how to close a deal and persuade your negotiation partner to say yes to you in the future.

It’s important to always be honest and polite. Not only will this help you close the deal, but it will also make your negotiation partner more likely to agree with you in the future.

Imagine that you want to buy a cabin in the woods. One day you discover a “For Sale” sign on a beautiful little house, where the owner, a kind looking elderly woman, invites you in for tea.

Her asking price is surprisingly low, meaning that you could easily afford it.