10 Specific Negotiating Techniques

-Learn Them - Use Them - Profit With Them!

By Bill Woodall
Founder/CEO, AIREO.com

Negotiating can be both enjoyable and profitable if you know what you are doing. There are certain negotiating techniques that are easy to learn and use, and these techniques can be worth their weight in gold when used properly in your negotiations. Some very useful negotiating techniques are the following:

1. Nibbling - The art of getting more after the buying or selling decision has been made. A good example of this technique is how car salesmen add on accessories after the decision has been made to buy a car. Use this technique by asking for appliances or more time to close, etc. Guard against it by making the other person feel cheap.
   
   
2. The Hot Potato - This refers to a problem that the other party to the negotiation has. It is amazing how many people will take on someone else's problems when these problems are tossed to them. Never catch a hot potato if it is tossed at you.
   
   
3. The Higher Authority - This is the art of using something that has more authority than you as the reason for taking and holding a certain point in the negotiation. A good example of this technique would be that “it’s company policy” or “my boss won’t do it any other way”. Always defend against this technique by asking to see the the higher authority or by just holding your position.
   
   
4. Good Guy...Bad Guy - In this technique you negotiate by making the other person feel that you are on their side and helping them negotiate with your higher authority and can be useful in holding your own position. An example would be, “let me talk to my boss and see what I can do for you. You’re the good guy trying to help, and the boss is the bad one to blame.
   
   
5. The First Offer - Never jump at or quickly accept the other persons first offer. You will never know how close to your position or how far the other person will go without giving yourself a chance to test the waters.
   
   
6. The Trade Off Technique - This is a negotiating technique that is used to defend against some- one that is trying to get more out of you. You can use this technique by saying, “if I do that for you, what can you do for me”. This technique does three things for you. First, you may get something. Second, it lowers the other person's expectations. Third, it stops the other person from coming back at you for more.
   
   
7. Room For Improvement - You should always take the position when negotiating that there is always room for improvement from the other person, and you should always ask for it. Use phrases like, “You'll have to do better than that” or “Is that the best that you can do”. Always ask for improvement or for a better price at least three times.
   
   
8. Power Of The Printed Word - People will believe almost anything that is in writing. The television show, Candid Camera, placed a sign on a major highway leading into Delaware that read “Delaware Closed”. This sign shut down traffic on the highway for over 90 minutes. Always have any clauses or any terms that you want already typed into your contracts.
   
   
9. Withdrawing The Offer - Always be willing to pull your offer off of the table. This move may force the other person to show their hand or to give in. I have been followed out to my car with the other person giving in even more than I was asking for by withdrawing the offer.
   
   
10. The Big Pot Tactic - This is a strategy to ask for everything. This tactic establishes a climate where the other person can also win because by asking for everything, you have something that you can give back to the other person.