You tell me your best recipe and I’ll tell you a negotiation tip.

deleted by creator

I did contract negotiations for a while. Something that I always remember being told was “you can’t be more excited to sign than the other person”. It’ll lead to you making bad deals. If the other side doesn’t want to sign, neither do you.

My boss always said he preferred no contract over a bad contract. I once suggested that even a contract that pays out a bit is better than nothing. He countered by saying there’s an opportunity cost in fulfilling a contract. We could be too busy fulfilling poor contracts that we have no time to negotiate and accept good ones. In that case, a poor contract could be seen as less valuable than nothing. I’ve had negotiations that lasted less than 15 minutes. I give a standard quote, they’d lowball, I’d say there’s no way, they said they’d leave, I say here’s the door. Done.

How about you give me some tips first, and I’ll consider it?

perhaps, but what’s in it for me?

There’s no way I can do that. I’m much too busy shitposting. It would be a huge inconvenience.

read the book ‘never split the difference’ it’s by a former hostage negotiator. interesting stuff.

I work in procurement. That means I negotiate with suppliers all day, every day. I’m the one the team calls when they need something fixed, and want something better than using a big hammer or lighting everything on fire.

The absolute best tip was courtesy of my first boss in the field:

"Always be prepared to walk away and say ‘No, thank you’. "

You won’t look weak (except to the wrong people). Instead you’ll come across as empowered, that you know what you want, have no tolerance for games, but also can be trusted. Very few people like people who always say yes, no matter what anxiety says. In order to be here, it’s important to have options and choices you can accept. Be ready to jump rails if it looks like you won’t get your first choice. That’s how good negotiators in my field do it - they have several acceptable options.

It’s still not easy to do. It requires perseverance and flexibility. Allow yourself to practice in lower-risk situations.

There are two rules you need to know in negotiations. First, never lay all your cards on the table.

From The One Sentence Persuasion Course by Blair Warren: “People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies”

I’ve found this helpful when trying to convince anyone of anything. The book breaks it down more, of course, but is probably not worth reading Vs the various summaries you can find online.

My summary, at least what I took from it is that you must try to understand the person you are negotiating with/pursuading. Figure out what they want, or what they’re afraid of, and offer that.

Perhaps, what are you offering in return?

The Art of Being Right https://a.co/d/g6Wj4fs

This is an article I always reference for job offer negotiations, but the principles would apply to negotiation in general. The most important concept to understand is: you can split a pot between two parties in ways that result in both of you getting more of what you want.

Monty Python - Life of Brian, Haggle scene

Negotiate from a position of strength.

Otherwise you have to compromise.