Be Generous In Negotiations / by Alexander Lyadov

Want to know a negotiation strategy that's reliable now and always?

Give a lot to the other side, and ask little for yourself.

"Wait! That's unfair! Why such an imbalance?" you may cry.

Calm down. I haven’t yet told you how much it will cost you.

The point is, negotiations rarely resemble a tug-of-war.

Yes, participants pull hard, but... each has their own "rope". Sometimes one pulls a reinforced cable, while the other pulls a silk Hermes scarf.

In a deal, there's always an X that’s most valuable to the other side. And you have plenty of that X. The ideal situation is when X costs you nothing. Like oxygen to a plant or pollen to a bee.

So you’re generous: "I’ll give you a lot of X in exchange for a little Y." Your partner immediately agrees, thinking, "What luck!"

The art of negotiation isn’t about manipulation; it’s about understanding all interests: "I value Y. He values X."

Sincerely yours,

-Alexander


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