Compilation of Negotiation Strategies

1. Auction: The bidding process is designed to create

competition.[24] When multiple parties want the same thing, pit them
against one another. When people know that they may lose out on
something, they want it even more. Not only do they want the thing
that is being bid on, they also want to win, just to win. Taking
advantage of someone's competitive nature can drive up the price.

2. Brinksmanship: One party aggressively pursues a set of terms to the

point where the other negotiating party must either agree or walk
away. Brinkmanship is a type of "hard nut" approach to bargaining in
which one party pushes the other party to the "brink" or edge of what
that party is willing to accommodate. Successful brinksmanship
convinces the other party they have no choice but to accept the offer
and there is no acceptable alternative to the proposed agreement.[25]

3. Bogey: Negotiators use the bogey tactic to pretend that an issue of

little or no importance is very important.[26] Then, later in the
negotiation, the issue can be traded for a major concession of actual
importance.

4. Chicken: Negotiators propose extreme measures, often bluffs, to force

the other party to chicken out and give them what they want. This
tactic can be dangerous when parties are unwilling to back down and
go through with the extreme measure.

5. Defence in Depth: Several layers of decision-making authority is used

to allow further concessions each time the agreement goes through a
 different level of authority.[27] In other words, each time the offer goes
to a decision maker, that decision maker asks to add another
concession to close the deal.

6. Deadlines: Give the other party a deadline forcing them to make a

decision. This method uses time to apply pressure to the other party.
Deadlines given can be actual or artificial.

7. Flinch: Flinching is showing a strong negative physical reaction to a

proposal. Common examples of flinching are gasping for air, or a
visible expression of surprise or shock. The flinch can be done
consciously or unconsciously.[28] The flinch signals to the opposite party
that you think the offer or proposal is absurd in hopes the other party
will lower their aspirations.[29] Seeing a physical reaction is more
believable than hearing someone saying, "I'm shocked."

8. Good Guy/Bad Guy: The good guy/bad guy approach is typically used
in team negotiations where one member of the team makes extreme
or unreasonable demands, and the other offers a more rational
approach.[30] This tactic is named after a police interrogation technique
often portrayed in the media. The "good guy" appears more
reasonable and understanding, and therefore, easier to work with. In
essence, it is using the law of relativity to attract cooperation. The
"good guy" appears more agreeable relative than the "bad guy."

9. Highball/Lowball: Depending on whether selling or buying, sellers or

buyers use a ridiculously high, or ridiculously low opening offer that is
not achievable. The theory is that the extreme offer makes the other
party reevaluate their own opening offer and move close to the
 resistance point (as far as you are willing to go to reach an
agreement).[30] Another advantage is that the party giving the
extreme demand appears more flexible when they make concessions
toward a more reasonable outcome. A danger of this tactic is that the
opposite party may think negotiating is a waste of time.

10. The Nibble: Nibbling is asking for proportionally small concessions that
haven't been discussed previously just before closing the deal.[26]This
method takes advantage of the other party's desire to close by adding
"just one more thing."

11. Snow Job: Negotiators overwhelm the other party with so much
information that they have difficulty determining what information is
important, and what is a diversion.[31] Negotiators may also use
technical language or jargon to mask a simple answer to a question
asked by a non-expert.

12. Mirroring: When people get on well, the outcome of a negotiation is

likely to be more positive. To create trust and a rapport, a negotiator
may mimic or mirror the opponent's behavior and repeat what they
say. Mirroring refers to a person repeating the core content of what
another person just said, or repeating a certain expression. It indicates
attention to the subject of negotiation and acknowledges the other
party's point or statement.[32] Mirroring can help create trust and
establish a relationship.

13. Scotting: A tactic of lowering one's voice to create a position of

power. This technique was pioneered by a veteran businessman, M. G.
Scott, and saw tremendous success in railway machinery price
 negotiations.[33]

14. Extreme Demands followed up by small, slow concessions: Perhaps the

most common of all hard-bargaining tactics, this one protects
dealmakers from making concessions too quickly. However, it can keep
parties from making a deal and unnecessarily drag out business
negotiations. To head off this tactic, have a clear sense of your own
goals, best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA), and
bottom line and dont be rattled by an aggressive opponent.

15. Commitment tactics: Your opponent may say that his hands are tied
or that he has only limited discretion to negotiate with you. Do what
you can find out if these commitment tactics are genuine. You may
find that you need to negotiate with someone who has greater
authority to do business with you.

16. Take it or Leave it Negotiation Strategy: Offers should rarely be

nonnegotiable. To defuse this hard-bargaining tactic, try ignoring it
and focus on the content of the offer instead, then make a counter-
offer that meets both parties needs.

17. Inviting unreciprocated offers: When you make an offer, you may find
that you counterpart asks you to make a concession before making a
counteroffer herself. Dont bid against yourself by reducing your
demands, instead, indicate that you are waiting for a counteroffer.

18. Inviting unreciprocated offers: When you make an offer, you may find
that you counterpart asks you to make a concession before making a
counteroffer herself. Dont bid against yourself by reducing your
 demands, instead, indicate that you are waiting for a counteroffer.

19. Make multiple offers simultaneously: When you put only one offer on
the table at a time, you will learn very little if the other party turns
it down. By contrast, think about what happens when you
simultaneously present multiple offers, each of which is equally
valuable to you, advises from Harvard Business School professor Max
H. Bazerman. If the other side refuses all of your offers, ask her which
one she likes best. Her preference for a specific offer should give you a
strong clue about where you might find value-creating, win-win
trades and generate mutual gain. In addition to identifying potential
win-win moves, when you make multiple offers simultaneously, you
signal your accommodating and flexible nature, as well as your desire
to understand the other partys preferences needs. So, the next time
you are about to make an offer, consider making three that you value
equally instead.

20. Include a matching right: In negotiation, including a matching right

in your contract a guarantee that one side can match any offer
that the other side later receives can be classic win-win move,
according to Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School
professor Guhan Subramanian.

21. Try a contingent agreement: A contingent agreement negotiated

if, then promises aimed at reducing risk about future uncertainty
offers a way for parties to agree to disagree while still moving
forward, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor
Lawrence Susskind. Contingent commitments often create incentives
for compliance or penalties for noncompliance. To add a contingent
 agreement to your contract, begin by having both sides write out
their own scenarios of how they expect the future to unfold. Then
negotiate expectations and requirements that seem appropriate to
each scenario. Finally, include both the scenarios and the negotiated
repercussions and rewards in your contract. A contingent agreement
can greatly increase your odds of being satisfied with whatever
remedies are in place and help generate a win-win deal.

22. Negotiate damages upfront: Not all future events can be anticipated
with contingent agreements, another way to foster a win-win
agreement is to include liquidated damages clauses in your contract
that stipulate how much will be paid if the contract is breached, it
may streamline any alternative dispute-resolution measures or
lawsuits that arise, according to Harvard Business School and Harvard
Law School professor Guhan Subramanian. In addition, negotiating
damages puts a new issue on the table and thus expands the
potential for value creation. In this manner, adding new issues to the
mix increases the opportunity for win-win negotiations.

23. Search for post-settlement settlements: Harvard Business School

professor Max H. Bazerman advises asking the other party whether he
would be willing to take another look at the agreement to see if it can
be made better. Explain to your counterpart that you would each be
free to reject a revised deal if it doesnt improve both of your
outcomes. This type of post-settlement settlement can lead to new
sources of value to divide between you. It can also help generate a
win-win contract if you didnt have one before. Your success in
hammering out your initial agreement may have established trust
needed to explore the possibility of an even stronger deal.
24. Red Herring/Decoy: Experienced and advance negotiators take
advantage of two powerful psychological drivers: reciprocity bias and
fairness bias. They start the negotiation with a very high target or
include a significant demand that they do not value greatly or expect
to get. During the negotiation they then withdraw the demand. As a
demand withdrawn is the same as a concession made, their
counterparts feel obliged to make a counter-concession. Fairness bias
will see to it that the concession offered will be about as big as the
perceived value of the original demand withdrawn. This is also the
reason why starting with a high opening number and agreeing to
come down is often considered to generate a better and more
acceptable outcome than starting with a lower number and not
moving much.

25. Russian Front: Offer one alternative that is deeply unattractive to the
other side. As the other side recoils in horror, the opening side can
then propose or offer an alternative much more to their liking and
which the recipient will value greatly, compared to the first offer.