If you're going to play the bargaining game, you just need to make the other side mad. You want them to get a little annoyed. Then you know that you've come in with a good price.
Interpretation
Negotiation often involves provoking a reaction to gauge the value of a deal.
In this quote, Christopher Voss suggests that successful negotiation is about understanding the dynamics of the bargaining process. By making the other party a bit annoyed, it signals that you have effectively challenged their position, indicating that you're likely approaching the negotiation from a strong standpoint, which can lead to better outcomes for you.
In practice
During a business meeting focused on contract negotiations, a leader might quote this to emphasize the importance of pushing for their interests.
When you expect to get into a negotiation, you expect to be faced by a guy that's going to attack you, a guy or gal that's going to attack or that they're going to try to get the best of you. Two-thirds of us, that makes us very defensive.
Price doesn't make deals, and salary doesn't control your career.
There are three kinds of yeses. There's commitment, confirmation, and counterfeit. People are most used to giving the counterfeit yes because they've been trapped by the confirmation yes so many times. So the way you master no is understanding what really happens when somebody says 'no.' When yes is commitment, no is protection.
The sweetest two words in any negotiation are actually, 'That's right.' Before you convince them to see what you're trying to accomplish, you have to say the things to them that will get them to say, 'That's right.'
The secret to gaining the upper hand in a negotiation is to give the other side the illusion of control. Don't try to force your opponent to admit that you are right. Ask questions, that begin with 'How?' or 'What?' so your opponent uses mental energy to figure out the answer.
Very few negotiations are begun and concluded in the same sitting. It's really rare. In fact, If you sit down and actually complete your negotiation in one sitting, you left stuff on the table.
Prosperity is the fruit of labor. It begins with saving money.
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