Use Silence

It is quite all right to have silence; you are not obliged to talk. The fact is, the one who talks more gives more away. The more you talk, the more information you are likely to be giving the other person. That information increases his or her authority in the negotiation - every time!

If you get thrown at any time - and it happens to the most experienced - give yourself time to think. Ask to use the phone, take a loo break. Tell them you need a bit of fresh air and ask for 15 minutes. Or just sit in silence doodling or writing on your paper. If they get embarrassed, don't let it worry you; tell them what is going on and say, 'Excuse me while I think this through for a few moments', or ' Excuse me, I just need a few moments of silence while I calculate the impact of this for both of us.'

If you are negotiating on the telephone, silence is a useful ploy. The other party feels compelled to break it.

Equally, when the deal is agreed, don't hang around. Many a good deal has been badly damaged by the talking that ensued. Many of you will find a propensity to verbal diarrhoea at this point. The reason is that there has been so much control, so much pent-up energy. But if you lose the deal here, you can lose it in a big way.

I remember negotiating one deal for a client. I had an experienced technical person with me. He knew his role and he was brilliant, he let me lead. He only contributed when I drew him in. But I forgot to tell him what to do at the end. As soon as the deal was struck he thought the rules had changed. He began discussing at length how he would overcome certain technical problems. Those problems had not even surfaced during the negotiation. Weeks of work, and thousands of pounds were blown with just a few minutes' careless words.