I just finished reading Chris Voss’s “Never Split the Difference“. I’d say it’s an amazing book that not only someone who’s into sales and business but everyone should read. Chris was an FBI negotiator and shares his stories on how a lot of negotiations went the right way and how some went the wrong way - and then combines it with some business use cases and tips that anyone can start practising from day 1.
I have noted down 5 major points that I learned from the book:
1) Making People Say “No”
When someone replies with a “No”, it’s not always negative, but it means that they feel more in control of the conversation and hence they don’t feel like you are trying to push anything down their throat. Chriss says to somehow structure some of your questions in a way that the other person might say “No, I don’t think..“ or “No, let’s say..“
2) Keep on Asking Open-Ended Questions
When someone offers you something that’s unaffordable for you (when you are a buyer) or a very low payment for your services (When you are selling), don’t just tell simply quit, instead start asking open-ended questions that will put them on the hot seat. For example, if you are a freelancer and you charge Rs.10,000 for writing an article. Then someone offers you Rs. 5000 for the article and is reluctant to increase the budget, then start asking open-ended questions like “How am I supposed to put out quality work for half my rate?“ The ball will be in the other person’s court and they will have to think about how to justify that, which will get you some ground to get a better price.
3) Label everything
This is my personal favourite. When you are making a move, don’t leave gaps for questions. Answer the questions that they might have in their mind at the start of your statement itself. Take the above-mentioned freelancer example itself. When the client offers Rs. 5000, then you can start to label everything that differentiates you like “I have 3 years experience in this particular field and have written over hundreds of blogs which has brought my client’s thousands of organic traffic and sales worth lakhs in a short time. I also have a network of freelancers with me whom I know charges even more than me but considering the excitement of the project I have already given my best rate”
4) It’s not fair - magic words
It’s fine if your friend and you do some mischief together and get the same punishment. But think of a scenario when you somehow got the punishment and your friend didn’t, even though you both were equally culprits. That is not fair right? Even though in both the cases you got the same amount of punishment, the second one would've hurt way more.
Hence, if you feel you need to get an upper hand in a very tight negotiation you can use these words “I don’t think it’s turning out to be fair for me.” That will trigger many to rethink.
5) Anchor As Much As Possible
If you are trying to buy a used car, and your budget is Rs. 3 Lakh and the seller asks you to offer first, then never directly go for 3 Lakh cause then there is no room for negotiation. Rather, keep 3 lakh as the worst-case scenario, and start with an extreme anchor like 1.5 lakh that will put in place your expectations to the seller. Then slowly move upward if he’s asking for a counteroffer, reason all the new offers that you are delivering with proper backings, like “Okay, now I think I’ll need to cut down on the vacation trip I had planned and allot that budget to this and let’s make it 2.13 lakh“ (Bonus: Also see the specificity of the offer - 2.13 lakh instead of 2.1 lakh, research says making it specific and ending it with an odd number makes it feel like a non-negotiable number)
These are all just the tip of the iceberg, you better get a copy for yourselves and read: Never Split the Difference
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