Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond

When you try to stop someone’s physical attack with your own physical maneuver (a block), you are pitting power against power—and the stronger party will have an advantage. But if you can sidestep the attack, you will avoid the hit, retain your balance, and remain in control of the situation.

Wise negotiators create a comprehensive list of what they are assuming and what they do not know prior to negotiation.

Your BATNA is the reality you will face if you reach no deal in the current negotiation.

John F. Kennedy once said, “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.

The Hamilton Real Estate case is a relatively simple negotiation: two parties (a buyer and a seller) are negotiating over one issue (price). Within this framework, we cover all of the following aspects of negotiating: preparing to negotiate, avoiding common negotiator mistakes, deciding whether to make the first offer, responding to the other side’s offers, structuring your initial offer, finding out how far you can push the other side, haggling effectively, claiming maximum value without sacrificing the relationship, and managing your own satisfaction.

As we hope to persuade you, people are rarely born “negotiation geniuses.” Rather, what appears to be genius actually reflects careful preparation, an understanding of the conceptual framework of negotiation, insight into how one can avoid the errors and biases that plague even experienced negotiators, and the ability to structure and execute negotiations strategically and systematically.

Investigative negotiators confront demands the same way they confront any other statement from the other party: “What can I learn from this demand? What does it tell me about the other party’s needs and interests? How can I use this information to create and capture value?

By considering the context of the negotiation, the relationships involved, and your alternatives away from the table, you will become adept at identifying when to negotiate, when to accept a deal without negotiating, and when to simply walk away.

An analysis of your BATNA is critical because it allows you to calculate your reservation value (RV), or your walk-away point in the current negotiation.

If you feel uncomfortable about refusing to answer a direct question, you can mitigate your unease by offering to answer a different, related question. Here, the idea is to be up front about your inability or unwillingness to respond to the specific question, then to offer a concession by providing other useful information.

STRATEGY 4: REFUSE TO ANSWER CERTAIN QUESTIONS. You do not need to answer every question that your counterpart asks. If he asks you to reveal your reservation value, for example, you should not feel compelled to answer. Suppose that the other party asks, “What’s the lowest price you will accept for this shipment?” One way to respond, and to defuse the awkward moment with humor, is to say: “I think you already know the answer—it happens to be the most you are willing to pay for it!” More generally, it is often acceptable to respond to a question that you do not wish to answer with one of the following remarks: • “This is a discussion that we can have later on, once we have both committed to the deal. I don’t feel comfortable divulging this information at the moment.” • “As you undoubtedly understand, we cannot share that information for strategic reasons.” • “The answer to your question depends on many other factors that we need to discuss.