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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
INFLUENCING AND
NEGOTIATING SKILLS
Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
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COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
The middle phase of power negotiations is the phase which
runs from the conclusion of the opening shots to
breakdown. This phase is characterised by a detailed
exploration of your opponent's position while refusing to
budge on your own. It may consist of a ritual exchange of
concessions as each side tries to test each other on just how
willing they are to stick to their positions. The aim in phase
two is to reach the most favourable position possible before
talks break down. When you reach the point where the
other side refuse to budge any further, then breakdown is
signalled and phase two is at an end.

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
STEPS TO BREAKDOWN
There are eight steps in the second phase of power
negotiations. In this phase both sides put aside their
opening arguments to test just what the other side wants.
The aim of phase two is to push the other side as far as you
can.
The eight steps in phase two are:
1. stick to your position
2. make no concessions even if the other side tempts you
3. start getting behind the other side's position by finding
out what their needs are
4. get to know their situation
5. listen carefully to what they want
6. test them
7. stand back and re-assess your positions
8. accept the inevitability of breakdown.

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
STICK TO YOUR POSITION
It is very important in the first half of power negotiations to
stick firmly to the position you have taken. The other side
will urge you to make some concessions to them; aim to
resist.
Concessions are known as "fool's generosity" and signal
your weakness. They also add up. If you concede even 10p
on a product that ends up selling 500,000 items in a lifetime,
that's £50,000 you just gave away!
1. don't concede because they do
2. don't concede in the belief that this is how negotiations
must be conducted
3. only concede if it costs you absolutely nothing
4. make smaller and smaller concessions as time goes by.

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
OPTIMIZE WHAT YOU GIVE
If you decide to make a concession in power negotiations -
and you should do so only if it costs you nothing - optimize
its worth to the other side.
Use these five techniques:
1. Credible Exaggeration
"That'll involve us in an awful lot of extra work."
2. Major Problems
"We'll do it even though we'll have major difficulties down
the line."
3. Exceptional Requests
"We don't normally do that, but..."
4. All The Costs
"Of course, the real cost of what you're getting is..."
5. Beyond The Call Of Duty
"This is something out of our normal practice."

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
MINIMIZE WHAT YOU GET
If the other side makes a concession to you, take it willingly
but let them know its worth is not that great to you.
Use the following five techniques:
1. Don't Thank Them
When they make concessions to you, particularly ones you
haven’t asked for, say nothing.
2. Look For The Smallest Worth To You
"Fine. But that's really not going to help me all that much..."
3. Treat The Concession As Something You Were Already
Expecting
"Well, I would certainly have expected you to do that!"
4. Devalue It
"That's not really worth much to us..."
5. Downplay Its Value
"That's worth nothing and could actually cost us."

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
BE PATIENT
One of the best tactics during the middle phase of power
negotiations is to be patient and play for time.
When you drop your need to meet a deadline and appear
unhurried, your power increases.
Research shows that 80% of movement in a negotiation
takes place in the last 20% of time. This is because a
deadline looms, or people become impatient to settle, or
simply become frustrated that nothing is happening.
In the negotiations to settle the Korean War in the early
1950's, it took 575 meetings before an agreement was
reached.

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
NEEDS NOT POSITIONS
Throughout the first half of a power negotiation, your aim is
to present a tough stand to the other side on your position.
But where the other side is concerned, you need to discover
the interests and needs that lie beneath their public
position.
Position:
Can you please stop your children playing football near my
garden otherwise I'll have to call the police.
Interests:
I have dahlias growing in my garden which I don't want
damaged.
Needs:
The dahlias are ready to bloom for next week's show. After
that it doesn't matter.

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
QUESTIONS
If you are in the buyer or claimant's role in a power
negotiation, much of the middle phase of discussions will be
taken up with questions about the other side's offer or
proposal. If you are in the seller or responder's role, you
should also use questions to find out just what the other
side needs.
Avoid questions that...
reprimand and accuse (Why didn't you...?)
entrap (Are you still peddling the Union line, then?)
threaten and pre-judge.
Use questions that...
open (What do you think...?)
seek permission (Why don't we look at things differently?)
are barometric (How would you feel if...?)

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
HOT POTATO
In power negotiations, the "hot potato" is the problem that
is too hot for you to handle so it is swiftly passed along for
others to sort out. "We understand that you would like 5%
from us, but in view of what we've said, we can only offer 3.
What are you going to do?“
The story is told of the husband who lay awake all night
worried about what he was going to say to the bank
manager in the morning about his overdraft. Finally in
exasperation and in need of some sleep, his wife turned on
the light, picked up the phone and dialled the bank manager
at home: "Hello, this is Mrs. Jones. I thought you should
know that my husband is coming to see you tomorrow to
find out what you're going to do about reducing his
overdraft. Goodnight.“
"There", she said, "it's his problem now. So let's get some
sleep!"

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
LIVE IN THEIR PLACE
During the middle phase of power negotiations, it is vital to
observe and listen to the other side with empathy and
understanding. When you put yourself in their position and
see things from their point of view, you can begin to see
how their needs may be met by your solutions.
"I turn towards the other man; I become familiar with his
situation. I mould myself on his destiny and, living in his
place, I begin to experience his fortunes and misfortunes.
Henceforth, my concern is not so much to impose my views
on him as to persuade him to adopt the one I consider best -
which always agrees with the interests of my own cause."
(Francois Walder)

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
MOVING CLOSER
The traditional placing of seats in a power negotiation is on
opposite sides of a rectangular table. This signals that you
and your opponents are on different sides.
As discussions proceed and you seek to understand and
empathize with their situation, you can move towards a less
confrontational seating position: initially perhaps a corner
arrangement and eventually a side-by-side one.
While a long rectangular table is the most confrontational
arrangement, offering no alternative but eyeball-to-eyeball
seating, a round table offers the least confrontational
arrangement. In legend, it was a round table at which King
Arthur seated his knights as a sign that none of them were
more equal than any other.

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
PRECISION LISTENING
Precision listening means listening carefully to what is being
said on the surface and what's being meant underneath.
Five conversational techniques to listen for are:
1. Throwaways: throwaways can often give you important
information: "incidentally..."; " by the way..."; "in case
you hadn't noticed..."
2. Legitimisers: legitimisers are often excuses for failures:
"to tell the truth..."; "we never really wanted that..."
3. Justifiers: justifiers often provide warnings that you are
not sure you can deliver: "we'll do our best but..."
4. Preparers: preparers prepare you for important
information: "I don't wish to be rude but..."
5. Erasers: erasers simply erase everything coming later:
"I'm no expert but..."; "let me be frank..."

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
BODY LANGUAGE
Noticing body language clues in your opponent's behaviour
can supply vital additional information to what they say.
The following are just some of the indicators you could pick
up...
1. a buttoned jacket is formal; unbuttoned is informal.
2. eye blinking is unsure; non-blinking is interested.
3. head straight is tense; head tilted is listening.
4. chin in palm of hand is bored; knuckles on chin is
interested.
5. hand to chest (male) is openness; (female) is
protectiveness.
6. frequent spectacle wiping is "I need more time to
think"; eyes over glasses means "I don't believe you.“
You should look especially for incongruent body language
such as the frown to the words: "That might work".

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
HIGHER AUTHORITY
Either side in a power negotiation can play the gambit of
"Higher Authority". This is going so far with a deal and then
backing off because you say you have to check it out with
someone in higher authority first. By this point, the other
side may have made important concessions.
You can counter "Higher Authority" if it is played on you in
one of these ways:
1. Appeal To Their Ego: "Oh, I'm sure they'll listen to you."
2. Get Commitment to the deal from them: "Well, you will
be recommending it, won't you?"
3. Get A "Subject To" Agreement: "Well, let's write out
what we've agreed subject to their agreement.“
The best counter to "Higher Authority" is to check that the
people you're dealing with have the necessary authority
before you start.

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
VEILED THREATS
There are two tactics to use when you wish to apply a veiled
threat to an entrenched opponent: "good guy, bad guy" and
"going to arbitration".
1. You can play "good guy, bad guy" by suggesting that if
the other side don't find an accommodation with you,
they will have to move on to someone much tougher.
2. The Americans under Jimmy Carter played "good guy,
bad guy" with the Iranians over the release of
kidnapped hostages in Teheran. They threatened that
the incoming president, Ronald Reagan, would be much
tougher than they were. Sure enough, the hostages
were released just days before the new president took
office.
3. "Going to arbitration" hints that an independent third
party might have to be used if you can't agree.

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
OPENING A NEW FRONT
When talks are entrenched and leading nowhere, it can be
useful to open up a new "front" or new avenues. These can
be genuine attempts to find alternative solutions as in the
tactic "Gallipoli" or diversionary tactics as in "Red herrings".
Gallipoli was the name of a Turkish town used to open up a
second Eastern front in the First World War. In entrenched
negotiations, it means raising a new issue to see if things
can't get going again.
Red herrings get their name from rotten fish used by
demonstrators to throw hunting dogs off the scent of foxes.
In negotiations, you can raise a "red herring" matter as an
alternative to the main issue and perhaps concede it later
on once talks have resumed.

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
TEMPTATION
There are two temptation tactics which can be used to
unfreeze stalled negotiations: the "alternative choice" tactic
and the "puppy dog close".
In the alternative choice tactic, instead of asking "will you
buy?" You ask "which do you prefer: the red or green?"
The astute production manager doesn't ask his team if they
can do the overtime, but asks: "Which night is best: tonight
or tomorrow?"
The puppy dog close tactic is another way to tempt people.
It is also known as try before you buy.
Pet shop owner: “I can see you like the puppy, sir and so do
the children. Since you're not sure, why don't you take him
home for the weekend? If you're not happy then bring him
back on Monday morning.”
Puppy dogs are never returned on Monday mornings!

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
TENTATIVE OVERTURES
You can make tentative overtures to the other side to inch
your way forward out of deadlocked negotiating positions.
Here are three ways:
1. Yes, yes, yes.
The more you use the word "yes", the more you encourage
positive and constructive thinking.
"Yes, you have a point...;Yes, I can see that.. Yes, what you're
saying is right..."
2. “Yes... and" is better than “Yes...but".
Not: "Yes, we like your ideas, but you're asking too much."
But: "Yes we like your ideas and if we could agree a price,
we might be interested."
"I" is less divisive than "You".
3. Avoid the finger-pointing of direct "You" statements.
Not: "You're wrong" but: "I think you may be wrong."

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
MODEST DIFFIDENCE
When you sound absolutely certain of a position, you take
on an air of moral superiority which can antagonise others.
If you introduce a touch of modest diffidence, you sound
more amenable to negotiation.
"I develop the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest
diffidence, never using, when I advanced anything that may
possibly be disputed the words "certainly", "undoubtedly"
or any other that give the air of positiveness to an opinion;
but rather say "I conceive..." or "I apprehend a thing to be
so and so..." "for such and such reasons", or "I imagine it to
be so...", or "it is so, if I am not mistaken.“
This habit I believe has been of great advantage to me when
I have had occasion to inculcate my opinion and persuade
men into measures that I have been from time to time
engaged in promoting." (Benjamin Franklin)

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
INDIRECT INFLUENCE
It is sometimes more effective to make a point indirectly to
others than to make it strongly ourselves.
Others may be blinded by the merits of a good case because
they are suspicious or mistrustful of what we say or because
they may have had reason not to trust us in the past or
because they simply do not like to put their arguments aside
for ours.
In these cases, we can influence others in indirect ways by:
1. not arguing
2. not insisting we are right
3. the use of "Maybe if.." and "What...if?" questions
4. quoting other similar cases
5. telling a story that gets the point across.

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
THE PRINCE'S GIFT
The following story illustrates the power of indirect
influence.
The Prince of Chi was at war with the Prince of Chu. He
decided he needed the support of a neighbouring prince
and so asked his son-in-law, Chun-Yu, to go and plead on his
behalf. Chun-Yu asked what gift he was to take and his
father-in-law gave him the derisory amount of a hundred
pounds of silver. Chun-Yu knew that this would be insulting
to the neighbour and, not wishing to insult his father-in-law,
he began to chuckle.
"Why are you laughing?" asked his father-in-law.
"Well, this morning, I saw a farmer sacrificing a pig's foot
and a single cup of wine and asking the gods for an
abundant crop, a full garden and bursting barns and I
couldn't help thinking that a man who asked so much should
offer so little.“
The Prince of Chi at once saw the point and increased the
value of his gift.

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
GO TO THE BALCONY
In his book, "Getting to Yes", William Ury talks about the
need to go "to the balcony" whenever negotiations get
stalled or entrenched. The balcony in question is the balcony
of the theatre; from here you can figuratively look down on
the stage and observe the point the play has reached.
"Going to the balcony" is a useful metaphor that allows you
to stand back and see how you're doing with an objective
eye.
It also allows you to summarize frequently: summaries are a
valuable way of stopping and agreeing with the other side
on the progress you've made and the point you've reached.

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
ACCEPT BREAKDOWN
Breakdown is an inevitable stage in power negotiations and
should therefore be seen as part of the process and not an
admission of failure.
Progressing to the point of breakdown does a number of
things:
1. it finds out how far you can push the other side
2. it calls their bluff
3. it demonstrates your tough stand
4. it lets them know you are prepared to face up to a "no
deal"
5. it lets your side know you're doing a good job for them.
Once breakdown has been reached, you need to consider
moving the negotiations into the final phase of seeking a
settlement.

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Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Stick to Your Guns in Negotiations
Influencing and Negotiating Skills
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn