Negotiation advice from Start with No!

Hi! Welcome back.  I continue to review the thirty three rules from Jim Camp’s book Start with no!  It’s a book that I read several weeks ago and it deals with the art of negotiations.  I found the book an excellent read and I’ve been reviewing the 33 rules Mr. Camp explored in his book. 

Some of Mr. Camp’s rules resonated more with me than others but as I’ve mentioned previously I was looking at them through the lens of someone who is starting their own consulting practice and looking to apply them to that endeavor.  Below I list rules 16-20 from Jim Camp’s book Start with No!

·         The value of the negotiation increases by multiples as time, energy, money, and emotion are spent.

·         No talking.

·         Let the adversary save face at all times.

·         The greatest presentation you will ever give is the one your adversary will never see.

·         A negotiation is only over when we want it to be over.

The two rules in this group that I most remember having an impact on me are the first one “The value of the negotiation increases by multiples as time, energy, money, and emotion are spent”; and “No talking”.

As I recall Camp’s explanation of the first rule “The value of the negotiation increases by multiples as time, energy, money, and emotion are spent” implies that the more we invest time, energy and money into a negotiation the more valuable the outcome of that negotiation is to us.  I think we can all agree that if for example, we have spend many years say investing in a relationship we will work to continue that relationship regardless of how ineffective, unloving or non-nurturing it currently is because we have invested so much of ourselves in that relationship in the past. 

Likewise for example I think we can all agree that an owner is more involved in the process of keeping a property properly maintained and looking good as opposed to someone who is renting a similar piece of properly.  The owner is committed not only because they have a mortgage on the property but also because they have no doubt invested time, energy and money in the upkeep and beautification of the home over the years.  Thus the longer we are involved with something a negotiations, business, relationship or property for example the higher its value is to us because of the amount of attention we have give to it in the past.

Camp’s rule of no talking means that we should focus our efforts in getting the adversary to open up and talk about what they are looking for or what they are trying to accomplish within a negotiations so that we can better understand their issues and make the case that our proposal will help them in some way rectify that situation.  More listening and less talk on your part will clarify the situation and allow you to propose a solution that more directly solves the issue or in the case of No, walk away from the negotiations because you don’t see how you can assist them and yourself at the same time.

Well that’s all I have for today, if you have suggestions as to topics you’d like to see explored on this blog please place your comments below.  Again thanks for reading and until next time all my best!  Jer.