Going First


There’s a game negotiators often play called “You go first.” You see it a lot in negotiations involving money, where it’s generally believed that the first person to actually mention a price loses. If a salesman says Auto X goes for $40,000, the prospective customer is not going to offer to pay more.

Now I realize that as a practical matter, the first person to mention a figure does set out the general parameters of the deal. And as a hostage negotiator, I’m used to being in the reactive mode. The words, “What exactly is it you want?” are not stapled to my lip only because they’re tattooed to my tongue.

But here’s the deal: It’s okay to go first. It’s okay to put a number out in the air. Realize that’s what you’re doing. Know that you’re setting the parameters of the discussion. And take it from there. A few times you may shock the other side because your offer is far higher (or far lower) than they were hoping for. But if you did your research properly, you know how much the thing is actually worth anyway. The odds are that they’ll eventually find out; you’re better off in the long run being fair.

And really, what is the downside? You’re our car salesman, you offered first to go $500 over invoice. The other side was prepared to pay more but now comes in a little lower, and the deal is still done.

You didn’t just sell him a car and make $400 plus the hold back and yadda-yadda-yadda. You also got him blabbing about what a great deal he got from the local Ford place. The $100 you supposedly lost will come back several times over in the form of his friends walking through the door.




Negotiate and Win. Proven Strategies from the NYPD's Top Hostage Negotiator
Negotiate and Win: Proven Strategies from the NYPDs Top Hostage Negotiator
ISBN: 0071737774
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 180

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