Negotiating Self Defense: Countering The Reverse Auction Tactic

I’ve always liked superheros. From my earliest days of reading comic books to my current-day trips to the movie theater to see Spiderman and Iron Man, I just don’t seem to be able to get my fill of superheros. I believe that superheros, although fictional (probably – however I still have hope), can teach us … Read more

How To Negotiate To Buy A New Car In 2009

Ok, so let’s be straight about this – buying a new car is one of the biggest negotiations that most of us do on an annual basis. Any time that we have a chance to find out how to do a better job at negotiating this transaction, it’s almost like putting more money into our … Read more

Negotiation Tactic: The Reverse Auction

In the world of negotiations, there are few tactics as old and as well thought of as the “reverse auction”. This is a powerful negotiating technique that allows a buyer to get the sellers to offer their best pricing for the most amount of work. Not bad if you are a buyer, eh? Check out … Read more

What If There Was No “What If” Negotiation Tactic?

During a negotiation, there often arise cases where we’d really like to get the seller to give us information that they really don’t want to give to us. If only there was some way to test the other side’s willingness to settle with us. Oh, and if there was a way to also “zero in” … Read more

How Do You Deal With The Rest Of The Iceberg During A Negotiation?

As the captain of the Titanic, Edward John Smith, did a fairly good job of looking out for the parts of icebergs that were above water. What got him in the end is when the Titanic hit a part of an iceberg that he couldn’t see because it was below water. In negotiating, all too … Read more

Use The “Reverse-Godfather” Approach To Win A Negotiation

In the classic movie, The Godfather, Marlin Brando utters the unforgettable phrase “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Clearly Brando’s character Don Corleone is operating from a position of negotiating power as the head of an organized crime family. However, is there anything in this phrase that us mere mortals can use? It … Read more

So Just How Do You Negotiate With Pirates?

Negotiating is both an art and a science. We study what works and what doesn’t in order to make sure that the next time that we are in a business situation in which somebody has something that we want, we are able to negotiate to get it. But what about pirates? The newspapers are all … Read more

The Ultimate Negotiation: A Very Tough Customer

In the world of negotiations there are the easy ones (getting a discount on that lawnmower that you bought) and the hard ones (a difficult customer to whom nobody has ever been able to sell). It’s the difficult customers that are the most interesting because they are a real challenge no matter what stage of … Read more

Wachovia, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup – Now You’re Negotiating With The Big Boys

The financial world sure seems to be intent on driving itself off of a cliff; however, that is no reason that negotiations should not stop. As long as companies are talking, there is learning for us to be doing. This time around the negotiations center on just who gets to buy what remains of the … Read more

3 Negotiation Tips From The Master: Donald Trump

I believe that by now we all probably have somewhat of a love / hate relationship with Donald Trump (“The Donald” if you like). No matter how you feel about the guy, you have to give him credit – he’s done quite well for himself. What’s interesting is that as caught up in himself as … Read more