How To Make “Total Cost” Work For You When Negotiating A Sale

I suspect that I’m just about every car salesperson’s nightmare. I’m the guy who decides what model car he wants by either personal experience (“I want another one just like that one”) or by reading every car review that I can get my hands on. I then go ahead and spend countless hours online and … Read more

No Ha, Ha At Tata – Negotiation Over Land & A Car Plant

Negotiation is a skill that is used everyday, all around the world. There’s a great example of just how careful one must be when negotiating – remember, as Yogi Berra said “It’s not over until it’s over”. Tata Motors thought that they had successfully negotiated a deal until it started to come undone. Let’s take … Read more

We’ve Moved (But You Shouldn’t Care)

Over the weekend I moved “The Accidental Negotiator” blog from its comfortable home at Google’s Blogger to a brand new home at a self-hosted WordPress site called, of course, www.theaccidentalnegotiator.com. All of the existing posts and comments have been copied over to the new blog – it is complete. The old blog will continue to … Read more

Does Your Body Language Mumble?

Ah body language, the secret communications channel that we couldn’t turn off if we wanted to. When we are negotiating it’s important to remember that your body is giving off all sorts of signals that you may or may not want it to be sending. I’m not sure if you can prevent your personal body … Read more

Do You Mind If I "Nibble" On You?

Ah, the things that they don’t teach us in school – like the fine art of nibbling. No, I’m not talking about the process by which you take an hour to eat a cookie by making small bites all around the outside until the whole cookie has been eaten. Instead, I’m referring to the well … Read more

It’s Krunch Time!

What the heck is a Krunch? In a nutshell, it’s a negotiating technique that a buyer can use to squeeze a lower price / better terms out of someone who wants to sell them something. I’ve seen this technique used most often when I’ve been buying a house – it’s a classic. I guess that … Read more