Management

Negotiating for Success: Essential Strategies and Skills

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We all enter into contracts on a daily basis without engaging in negotiation. We usually do not negotiate when we buy food, drink, apps, books, clothing, electronics, pet supplies, office products, household goods, toys and sports equipment. What would happen if we decided to negotiate when purchasing these items?
This is an assignment I give to my students at the University of Michigan. I ask them to try to purchase a personal product or service at a store, hotel or restaurant for less than the listed price. There are two rules. They cannot negotiate for something that is usually bargained for, such as a car or an item at a flea market. And they cannot tell the person with whom they are negotiating that this is a course assignment.
Before they complete the assignment I ask the students to estimate how many of them will be successful. A large percentage of them predict that most students will fail. The actual results are surprising. In a typical year, two-thirds of the students are successful. The discounts range from 1% to 100% and the students save thousands of dollars.
In achieving these savings, students use a variety of strategies and tactics. Some of the strategies—such as a Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) strategy, use of stretch goals, and building a relationship with the seller—are based on sound negotiation principles and will be covered later in this book. For example, one student was so successful in establishing a relationship that a checkout clerk offered to lend her money so that she could complete the purchase!
Other tactics fall within the realm of tricks. A student who wanted to purchase a high- priced water bottle tried to project an image of poverty by not shaving, and by wearing shoddy clothing and an old pair of tennis shoes. He also coughed occasionally to indicate that his health was not good. Other students point out defects in products, try to flirt with the other side, or use strategic timing—for instance, by showing up at a pizza store just before closing, realizing that any unsold slices of pizza would be thrown away.
Sometimes students use a combination of tactics. A young father arrived at a sushi restaurant shortly before closing. He put a $20 bill in one pocket and a $10 bill in another so that he could pull out one or the other (depending on how the negotiation proceeded) and claim that this was all the money he had. He also played a sympathy card by emphasizing that his young children at home love sushi. The result was a substantial discount. We will turn to a discussion of ethics in a later chapter!

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Series Title

Negotiating for Success: Essential Strategies and Skills

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Publisher

: Van Rye Publishing, LLC., 2014

Collation

1-102

Language

English

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NONE

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-

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Edition

1st Edtion

Subject(s)

Strategy

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