Negotiation Tactics - Part 1

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In previous posts, I gave an introduction to negotiation, followed by a look at the three stages of negotiation.

In this post, we will look at several negotiating tactics that you can use in your daily dealings with people.

Negotiation Tactic 1 - The Flinch

In this technique, you will react visibly when a proposal is made to you.

Your goal is to make the other party feel that his offer is unreasonably high or low.

Think of negotiating with shopkeepers at roadside markets. You make them an offer for a piece of clothing, lets say $10 for instance, and immediately, a look of shock appears across their face and they start to return the item to its original position.

Sound familiar? Don't be surprised. Shipowners who negotiate the selling price of their items are the masters of negotiation and they are able to apply the technique of "the flinch" as described above on command.

Once this technique is applied, your opponent will immediately realized that the amount is the absolute limit and will not attempt to negotiate past that barrier. This allows a definitive boundary to be established on your own position.

Negotiation Tactic 2 - The Hot Potato

This technique involves passing the problem over to your opponent.

The goal is to confuse your opponent and let him solve your own problem. This will also allow you to gain some valuable information about your opponent at the very same time.

For example, you are a laptop salesman and you are trying to push a certain model to a customer which costs $2000. The customer, eager to try to negotiate a better deal, says that they like the model, but have only a budget of $1500. Obviously, they hope that we will lower the price to meet their needs.

To use the technique of "The Hot Potato", you could perhaps tell the customer something like "I have this new model that is a real bargin, but it costs more than $2000. Is there any point in showing it to you?"

If the customer would like to view, this would imply that he or she is not as constrained by the budget as previously mentioned. This gives you additional information about the customer allowing you to negotiate more effectively.

Look out for my next post in this series entitled: "Negotiation Tactics - Part 2" for more effective negotiation tactics that you can use in everyday life. Do bookmark this post if you enjoyed it. Thanks.

If you are interested in this post, do consider checking out the related posts in the negotiation mini series.
- An Introduction to Negotiation
- The Three Stages of Negotiation
- Negotiation Tactics - Part 2