Bargaining For Advantage - Introduction

Posted by Beetle B. on Sun 10 January 2016

Much of the materials with the tag bfa comes from the Bargaining for Advantage book.

When negotiating, it is vital to be yourself: If you are an accommodating person, stay that way. If you are naturally competitive, don’t try to change. One reason is that you will take limited mental resources away from the task of negotiation (e.g. listening to the other party for clues) in trying to put up a different front.

If you are willing to give something away for free, make sure the other party feels they have earned it. Many people naturally feel the need to be able to “walk away tall”, and they will not feel it for freebies.

Three aspects of negotiation:

  1. Planning before the negotiation.
  2. Listening and observing to try to figure out what the other party really wants. Often their request is a means to some end. If you know what that end is, you may be able to offer alternatives for them.
  3. Observing the signals through conduct once negotiations are underway.

A very important point: There is no single bargaining style that works. Do not search vainly for recipes. The bargaining style you need depends on the situation and the other party.

Skeptical school of negotiation: Question all assumptions you make about the other party.

It is also good to have an explicit set of bargaining ethics you follow.

To get better at negotiation, you need to keep practicing. Use any opportunity you get!

tags : negotiations, bfa