Comment by spodek | Hacker News Reader

Comment by spodek | Hacker News Reader

Getting to Yes is the book on negotiation. I'm surprised someone didn't mention it already, but I'll get the karma points instead. If you haven't read it, it will likely become one of the more important books on business and give-and-take interactions you read. We all negotiate every day, on things like prices and salaries, but also what movie to go to or what restaurant to eat at. This book helps in all these areas.

It transformed negotiation from me from something I didn't like to a human and essential part of business.

- A few words I wrote on the book -- http://joshuaspodek.com/top-models-strategies-negotiating

- Wikipedia page -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_to_yes

- Amazon -- http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap...

Here are the main strategic points, for reference

1. Separate the people from the problem.

2. Focus on interests, not positions.

3. Invent options for mutual gain.

4. Insist on using objective criteria.

5. Know your BATNA (Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement)

6. Always try to improve your BATNA.

Whilst reading Getting To Yes, I kept thinking, "I don't see how this is going to get me a cheaper car", but it did take a while to sink in. I would say it's probably been more valuable in changing how I speak to people rather than directly giving me skills to knock a price down. However, when you define "negotiating" to include eliciting s/w requirements, speaking with managers/colleagues, defining personal relationships, etc. then I would say it's an invaluable read.

I will try Bargaining For Advantage mentioned elsewhere as well.

GTY is more about building something from nothing: getting people to join you in an effort/venture, from a position if initial mistrust.

It is too softball for strictly 1-dimensional negotiations like a car price.

Haggling on car price will always be an antagonistic zero-sum competitive operation, since their aren't any other dimensions.

Not necessarily. A big part of GTY is understanding the complete picture of incentives for all parties. I've found an absolutely terrific way to negotiate car prices is to do all your research ahead of time (including a test drive, if necessary), know your data (like the invoice price) and a fair dealer profit (from car buying forums).

Then enter into the dealership and say "I am ready to do a deal right now for this price, I've done all my research and know exactly what car I want. Here's the price I am going to pay, you know it's fair, I know it's fair, it gives you $1,000 of dealer profit and I want to get this done as fast as humanly possible to get you on to your next sale."

You'd be surprised at how attractive that is for a salesman. If they can make $1,000 in an hour, or make $2,000 over 8 hours of hard sales work, they will choose your deal all day long. Best of all, you get what you want, which is a lower price, and they get what they want, which is to maximize their commissions per hour of their time.

Knowing your BATNA (if I search long enough I can find another person who is willing to sell me the same car for cheaper) can make the difference. That's perhaps the most useful lesson I learned from GTY. In this kind of "competitive deals", if the deal is ever done it will favour the party which held the hardest position; knowing your BATNA helps you stay hard if you have a good reason to do so, even if you're a soft person. It's a bit like the difference between a well calculated poker bet and a complete gamble.

I think the thing most people struggle with is #2. Prior to reading Getting to Yes and taking a seminar on Negotiations, it was certainly the thing I most failed to realize. People seem to be so concerned about "losing" during negotiations that they dig themselves far too deep into their positions, while failing to really realize what they actually need, let alone what the other party needs. I'm actually shocked at how much my real-world bargaining outcomes have improved since having these concepts introduced to me.

And the book is very short, to boot, so it's quick to read and doesn't contain much fluff.

It's worth noting that the book tries to touch on negotiations where the other party is purely adversarial, and many negotiation situations are still approached this way by very experienced negotiators, but it isn't enough of a focus to really give particularly strong advice in this area. Still, some of the major principles still apply and by still focusing on your interests and understanding your position (BATNA, bottom line, etc.) will put you in a much stronger place when dealing with tough situations.

It is important to note that this book and others talk about negotiating and reaching a win-win agreement but you can confront on situations where the other party is happy only in a win-loose situation. This aspect of negotiation change with culture.

If you only get one book on negotiation, get Getting to Yes. If you get two books, get Bargaining for Advantage as well.

Bargaining for advantage differs from Getting to Yes in that it's more of a tactical guide, and BFA's advice works not only in collaborative situations, but also in adversarial zero-sum negotiations.

I truly understood the value of negotiation when I walked out of a happy vendor's boardroom having just cut my expenses by over $60,000 using a couple emails, a phone call, and a two-hour meeting.

BfA is my goto book, +1 on the recommendation

for those looking for the adversarial approach, there's also Start with No (http://amzn.to/16QO6sO). While I haven't really used those tactics, I did find many of the strategies outlined employed in the corporate environment.

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