Yeah, I am sure you consider yourself a great negotiator right?

Nothing to learn right?

Well, one of my mentors fifteen years ago taught about “Getting to No” in the context of sales.

Get a no quickly to qualify a prospect. I think it equally applies in negotiation. For example:

“Will you agree to limit our obligation to repairing the service performed, deliverable or product for a year after closing?”

Or, in real estate deals, we might ask an investing partner:

“In year three, if real estate prices are way up, can you assure us that you will not force a sale until year seven?”

The “no” that follows tells you so much about where to go next if you really pay attention.

“No’s” give us boundaries but also clarify how one sees the relationship.

In the first case, I might ask, for starters, how* the customer would want to handle when things change or do not work as planned?

In the real estate situation, since we know our client cannot prove out its return on cash goals if a sale is forced in year 3, we might have to re-think our assumptions.

The real question becomes how often do you practice the art of paying attention?

*how questions are my next topic of focus

How would you rate yourself as a negotiator?