Negotiating Skills: Ask For More Than You Expect To Get

It creates some negotiating room, and you might just get what you're asking for.

Whether playing the role of buyer or seller in a sales transaction, asking for more than you expect to get is a classic opening position in negotiations.

In the audio book, "Sound Advice on Negotiating Skills," author Roger Dawson says, "Henry Kissinger called this the key to success at the bargaining table." It's simple, notes Dawson, but there are many profound reasons for doing it.

"It creates some negotiating room that makes it easier to get what you really want," says Dawson. "It creates a climate where the other person can have a win with you." This climate can prevent negotiating deadlocks, especially when dealing with an egotistical negotiator, according to Dawson.

"When you're selling, it raises the perceived value of your product or service," says Dawson. However, some salespeople are so eager to reach agreement that they soften their opening negotiating position. "They hope that by doing this the client will appreciate how generous they've been," says Dawson. "The danger in this is that the client may instead think, 'If they've given us this much, we can get a lot more; let's be tough negotiators.'"

The solution, says Dawson - a renowned speaker and author of the book, "Secrets of Power Negotiating for Salespeople" - is to "ask for more than you expect to get, but imply some flexibility so that you can encourage them to negotiate with you."

Roger Dawson offers negotiating skills advice each week in the free audio newsletter from What's Working in Biz, http://www.whatsworking.biz/full_story.asp?ArtID=92

About The Author

Richard Cunningham is a principal of What's Working in Biz, http://www.whatsworking.biz, a publisher of business audiobooks and online audio programs on marketing, sales, and small business strategies.

MORE RESOURCES:

Nearly As Far-Fetched As The Maverick Lie -- Negotiation Preconditions - Huffington Post

News of negotiation with Afghan govt baseless: Taliban’s spokesman - Online - International News Network

Trade and negotiation: Keys to Jamaica#39;s economic development - Jamaica Gleaner

No raise? Negotiate instead for these perks - CNN

Nepali PM urges for immediate negotiation with armed groups - Xinhua

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Vietnam, Japan complete EPA negotiation - Antara

Time to talk - The Nation Newspaper

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Afghan president to seek negotiation with Taliban through Riyadh - Xinhua

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8i-0fd=Rurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7643959.stmcid=1251783735ei=5n_qSNODDp7M8ASTzpWaAgusg=AFQjCNG8Dl0x38UxBxRbMvhmHgivQL-jrwimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=VRQyW_K7L5QJimgurl=newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44859000/jpg/_44859535_karzai_afp_226b.jpg width=80 height=60 alt= border=1brfont size=-2BBC News/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/01/content_10138650.htmcid=1251783735ei=5n_qSNODDp7M8ASTzpWaAgusg=AFQjCNGRhaRY53ME3jH3RM7xutzYH3i9-wAfghan president to seek bnegotiation/b with Taliban through Riyadh/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fXinhua,nbsp;Chinanbsp;-/font nobrOct 1, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1b.../b occasion of the first day of Eidul Fitr to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan that the preparation for bnegotiations/b is going on a daily basis. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/10/03/afghan-taliban.htmlcid=1251783735ei=5n_qSNODDp7M8ASTzpWaAgusg=AFQjCNFZY77X_yvjMLNK6oktoeE1fk20YwTaliban leader rejects call for peace talks with Afghan government/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrCBC.ca/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-2fd=Rurl=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/asia/01afghan.html%3Fbl%26ex%3D1223092800%26en%3D9fa606ceef16e341%26ei%3D5087%250Acid=1251783735ei=5n_qSNODDp7M8ASTzpWaAgusg=AFQjCNGabNQcdE6_f3nkDJqkJU86k9M8PQKarzai Sought Saudi Help With Taliban/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrNew York Times/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-3fd=Rurl=http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-35783520081003cid=1251783735ei=5n_qSNODDp7M8ASTzpWaAgusg=AFQjCNGTnfZCuWWzzw6_gGBAdnZiwC2vmgTaliban leader rejects talks with Afghan government/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReuters India/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-4fd=Rurl=http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20081001_afghanistan_moves_toward_negotiating_talibancid=1251783735ei=5n_qSNODDp7M8ASTzpWaAgusg=AFQjCNGC5HyOyzhQGSjrb7TJ3VnaZVm-egnobrStratfor (subscription)/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-5fd=Rurl=http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/30/asia/01afghan.phpcid=1251783735ei=5n_qSNODDp7M8ASTzpWaAgusg=AFQjCNF0ca5NCPtZZYYzSuG2bdskmV61CwnobrInternational Herald Tribune/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1251783735hl=ennobrall 810 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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