Key Tips on Negotiation from the book, Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss.
-
A good negotiator prepares, going in, to be
ready for possible surprises; a great negotiator
aims to use her skills to reveal the surprises she is
certain to find.
- Don’t commit to assumptions; instead, view
them as hypotheses and use the negotiation to
test them rigorously.
- People who view negotiation as a battle of
arguments become overwhelmed by the voices
in their head. Negotiation is not an act of battle;
it’s a process of discovery. The goal is to
uncover as much information as possible.
- To quiet the voices in your head, make your sole
and all-encompassing focus the other person and
what they have to say.
- Slow. It. Down. Going too fast is one of the
mistakes all negotiators are prone to making. If
we’re too much in a hurry, people can feel as if
they’re not being heard. You risk undermining
the rapport and trust you’ve built.
- Put a smile on your face. When people are in a positive frame of mind, they think more quickly,
and are more likely to collaborate and problem solve (instead of fight and resist). Positivity
creates mental agility in both you and your
counterpart
