Short Guide to Negotiating
Chris Croft
Chris Croft, has an Engineering
Degree from Cambridge and an
MBA, worked as a senior manager
in manufacturing for 10 years and
then as a university lecturer for five
years before starting his own training
company in 1995. Since then he has
trained over 80,000 people, and his
free email tips are sent to 11,000
people (www.free-management-tips
.co.uk). He is featured on www.lynda
.comwhere he presents courses on
project management, assertiveness,
time management, and happiness.
Croft_Negotiation_163715.indd 1
Abstract: An overview of the process for a win-win outcome,
starting with preparation: what are your tradeables, what
is your walk-away point, how to plan your opening offer,
and what is their position likely to be? Then tactics such
as getting the other party to open first, trading rather than
conceding unilaterally, moving in small steps, reluctant
buyer, higher authority, the vice and the salamihow to
use them and how to combat them.
Key words: tactics, process, flinch, vice, salami, discount,
bargain, nibble
Definition
A Negotiation is any interaction where there is some-
thing you want, and something they want (or at least
something you can offer them in return for what you
want). Almost every interaction is like this, otherwise
why would it be happening?
You are negotiating all the time!
If one of you has 100 percent of the power then it is
not a negotiationunless the person with all the power
doesnt realize!
Bids and tenders also arent negotiations because
there is no chance for interactionusually.
Objectives and Style
Both you and the other party have the choice about
whether they aim for good relationship, good numerical
outcome, both, or neither.
Good result at the cost of the relationship is often cho-
sen by buyers who think that the purchase cost is the
main costit often isnt!
This I Win/You Lose style is also often chosen by
people who think they are the stronger (but you never
have ALL the cards) or when people think it is a one-off
negotiationbut as we know there is almost always an-
other one later!
Good relationship at the cost of good result is Lose/Win
and is sometimes chosen by sales people who hope that
in the long run their weak start will pay off. Usually it
doesnt. Lose/Win can also happen when the buyer as-
sumes that the price is negotiablewhen it was!
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 Short Guide to Negotiating
Surely nobody would choose Lose/Lose
where there is neither a good result or a
good relationship. Well, in fact we all do,
quite often! This can happen when you
dont even try to negotiateyou wrongly
assume that there is no deal to be made
and so no deal is found. Or when one of
the parties walks out as a ploy and is then
too proud to crumble. They get dug in and
a deal, which was there for the taking,
slips away.
Win/win can be achieved in any nego-
tiation where there are tradeables. If there
is not a single tradeable, and it is just an
arm-wrestle over price, then everything
that one person wins is lost by the other
(this is known in game theory as a zero-sum
game) and the relationship is likely to suf-
fer. Tradeables open up the whole game
to the possibility of both parties winning.
A good relationship is maintained and a
good result for all is achieved.
For there to be a win/win you will need
to prepare your tradeables (see next sec-
tion), and then you will have to explore for
ways to structure an agreement that works
for both of you.
This means being nice, patient,
constructive, and a good listener, from
the outset. Although you are only releas-
ing your cards strategically, you are also
working in partnership with the other per-
son in order to find the best deal for both
of you.
Tradeables create value from nowhere:
For example, if I give my hedge-cutting
man tea and biscuits, and flexibility over
when he does it, and a regular twice-a-year
booking, and in exchange he does some to-
piary and lends me his chainsaw, then we
both gain. We have given things that are
easy to give (almost free) but which the
other person values greatly. Value has been
created from nowhere!
Creativity in tradeables can not only re-
duce the amount you have to give, but can
actually result in you getting more than
you ever expected.
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Preparation
Possibly the most important part of the
whole process! People on my training
courses never spend enough time on it,
and then they always regret it. Just a few
minutes in the calm can save you a lot of
money (and other tradeables) when the
pressure is on later.
What should you prepare?
Four main things:
Tradeables
Mental strength
Your opening offer
Your limit
Tradeables
These are the lubrication in the trading
processthey are what will enable you to
move from your opening offer to a settle-
ment without looking as if your opening of-
fer was dishonest.
And as well as allowing you to concede
gracefully, tradeables can even allow you to
come out ahead on the deal. Suppose Ihave
you 100 in exchange for a recommenda-
tion to one of your business friends, that
recommendation could be worth thousands
to me. Ive reduced my price and still come
out ahead! And so have you!win/win!
The more tradeables you have the bet-
terthere are more things that might
tempt the other person (who knows what
they might want or value).
Tradeables can be things that
You can easily offer them
They might value highly
They might be able to offer you easily
You want, that they can probably give
Think of your tradeables as a pack of
cards that you can play whenever you
need one. Make a list and learn it. You
only have to do this once, and youve got
it for ever!
Mental Strength
In negotiations it is easy to focus on our
own weaknesses, rather than the other
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 Short Guide to Negotiating
persons, because we know our own and
we dont know theirs.
So when you are buying a house you
think I must have this house, it is the only
one I like, Im sick of looking at houses,
and it is a bargain, I can afford it, what if
someone else comes along and buys it, Ive
got to get out of that rented place, the mar-
kets about to rise, Ill just have to pay the
asking price.
... and when you are selling your house
you think I just want to get shot of this
place, it has got all those problems with it,
there are three others on sales down the
road which are just like it only in slightly
better condition, weve had no interest, it
has been on the market for ages, I really
want to buy that cottage Ive found before
someone else gets it, I dont need the full
asking price in order to afford the cottage, I
cant believe how much this house has gone
up since I bought it 20 years ago, Ithink it
is a bit overpriced, Ill take any offer they
make me.
No wonder you lose when you buy and
you lose again when you sell.
But how to prevent these weak thoughts
creeping into your head?
The answer is to fill your head with
strong thoughts, which are based on the
weaknesses of the other person:
FOCUS on them: say to yourself I bet
that the seller is in a hurry to sell, knows
about things wrong with it, doesnt need
the full asking price, has had no interest,
etc and I bet the buyer has fallen in love
with it, can easily afford it, thinks it is a
bargain really whatever they actually say,
and is in a hurry to move in.
PROBE to find out if any of these are
true: Ask the seller Do you have some-
where to move to? (Yes, a little cottage in
Dorset) Have you lived here long? (Yes, preparation time on some good plan Bs.
20 years) Has it been on the market long/
have you had much interest? (amazingly
people often tell you the truth: No just
time wasters really). Each time you think
Aha! but of course you dont say that!
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Ask the buyer Have you looked at many
houses? (Oh yes, loads, they were all rub-
bish) What do you like about it? (It has
got the perfect garden for us) Where are
you living at the moment? (staying with
the in-laws) and you think Aha . . . but
you dont say it.
They will always have weaknesses, even
if they are much bigger than you (a mul-
tinational company, for example, still has
a sales person who has to meet a target,
or too much stock they need to shift) and
even if they are the sole supplier the above
still applies, and they may not realize they
are the only supplier, or maybe they in fact
arent they fear that you will start looking
around.
So the overall theme is to ask lots of ques-
tions and listen. Remember that when you
are talking you are giving things away (infor-
mation is power) but when you are listening
you are gaining information, and also you
have time to think about your next move.
Your Opening Offer
(see Opening offers section)
Your Limit
If you are buying, this will be the most you
are prepared to pay.
If you are selling, it will be the least you
are prepared to accept.
It is always the point at which you will
walk away. Not pretend to walk away, that
could be at any point, but I mean REALLY
walk away. And not come back.
Setting your limit is the foundation of
all your strength, because your strength
comes from the ability to walk away.
Your limit depends to a large extent on
your Plan B, your best alternative to an
agreement, so it is worth spending some
Get some other quotes, for example.
Your limit is also affected by a multi-
tude of personal factors, like how much
you like the product (different people
will pay hugely differing amounts for a
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