NEGOTIATION

[Pages:172]NEGOTIATION

The Art of Getting What You Want

by

MICHAEL SCHATZKI

with Wayne R. Coffey

Copyright 1981, 2005-2009 by Michael Schatzki - All rights reserved

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MICHAEL SCHATZKI

Michael Schatzki is an experienced professional negotiator. He has conducted negotiation training seminars and workshops for businesses, nonprofit organizations and professional groups throughout the country and provides consulting services to organizations on specific negotiating problems. He combines his ability as a trainer and teacher with more than 20 years of experience in a variety of management positions.

He has developed and conducted custom designed negotiation skills seminars for sales, purchasing, insurance, personnel, finance, training, engineering, contracting, real estate, government and regulatory relations, various professional groups and general management.

He is the author of Negotiation: The Art of Getting What You Want, originally published by Signet Books, and the Master Sales Negotiator audio/video program.

Michael Schatzki received his B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from Haverford College, and an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University.

His website is

Table of Contents

PART I - Negotiation: the Life Skill

Introduction You Don't Have to Take No for an Answer 2 Chapter 1 You're Already on Your Way 6 Chapter 2 Free from Fear 8

PART II - Setting the Stage

Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

An Overview of Negotiation 18 The Settlement Range: The Best Friend Your Negotiation Can Have 23 Coping with Tension 37 Predicting How the Other Side Will React 41

PART III - Mapping Out Your Action Plan

Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11

Strategic Forces: Your Springboard to Successful Negotiating 47 Making a Better Deal Possible 59 Pulling Your Bargaining Levers 65 Tactics: Your Tools for Getting What You Want 71 Research and Planning: A Little Digging Goes a Long Way 98

PART IV - Face to Face

Chapter 12 A Matter of Style 115 Chapter 13 At the Bargaining Table: Putting It All Together 129

PART V - The Negotiator's Workshop

Chapter 14 Ten Common Negotiations: How to Get What You Want 148

C Buying a New Car C Buying a Used Car C Negotiating Salary and Benefits for a New Job C Negotiating Price on Big-Ticket Items C Negotiating a Raise C Buying and Selling a House C Negotiating Contracts C Complaints C Utility Companies C Negotiating with Landlords C Negotiating With Government and Other Bureaucracies

Epilogue: Parting Thoughts 168

PART I v

Negotiation: The Life Skill

INTRODUCTION

You Don't Have to Take No for an Answer

CINDY Q. CITIZEN approaches the service desk of the auto dealership. The car ran really well when she bought it three years ago for about $22,000. However, for weeks now the car has been stalling out in traffic, and this is the fourth time she's spent her lunch hour with the service manager. Each time, she's been told the problem has been corrected, and each time, the car behaved as if nobody had even touched it.

Cindy doesn't want to be a pain in the neck. She only wants to get her car fixed and never see the place again. The service manager consults his records.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," he says, "but we can't help you out this time. Your warranty expired three days ago."

"But it was under warranty when the problem first came up," Cindy pleads, "Yes, but it's not now. I'm sorry. It's policy." Cindy feels helpless. She takes no for an answer.

Harry Person hadn't been feeling well so he went to see his doctor. The doctor gave him a prescription and told him to call for a stronger prescription if his condition persisted. It does, so Harry puts a call in to his doctor.

Four days later, Harry gets a bill for $45 from his doctor. He's very upset about it, having paid $85 for an office visit already. He calls the office in the hope that the bill was an oversight.

"The bill is correct," the nurse says coldly. "That is the doctor's standard fee for a phone consultation."

Harry is angry. But he takes no for an answer.

Paul and Paula Public are moving out of their apartment. They've been model tenants and don't expect any difficulty in getting back their $1,300 security deposit. The landlord inspects the premises and says there will be no problem.

A week later, Paul and Paula get the check they've been expecting. But it's for only $800 In a curt letter the landlord cites three damaged screens, numerous holes in the wall plaster, and "excessive wear and tear" as his reasons for keeping $500 of their deposit.

They confront the landlord with their gripe. He stands firm. They feel like they've been taken. But what can they do? They take no for an answer.

Tom Doe glances at the clock. It's 8:00 p.m., and everyone else in the office has long since departed. A loyal and industrious worker, Tom has been staying late for six weeks now, helping his boss, Al, finish a special project before the approaching deadline. Tom hasn't gotten a raise in a year, and somehow every time the subject is broached, Al manages to talk his way around it and put Tom off.

You Don't Have to Take No for an Answer

3

Tonight, Tom decides to inquire about it again. "You know how highly I value you," Al says warmly. "God knows I'd be lost on this project without you. But my hands are tied. There's simply nothing to spare in the budget right now. Don't you worry though. You know I'll take care of you as soon as it's humanly possible."

The pat on the head makes Tom feel good, but it does little for his increasing financial crunch. He takes no for an answer

. You don't have to act like the people in the foregoing examples. You don't have to take no for an answer. You don't have to accept what is offered or back off from what you deserve. You will learn that you have recourse, that there are ways to change "No" to "Yes," that you don't have to settle for table scraps when what you deserve is a square meal. How? By learning to become a better negotiator. In more than 20 years of teaching negotiation training seminars, giving speeches and coaching hundreds of people on the life skill of negotiation, I've come to one inescapable conclusion: Most people don't get what they deserve in their day-to-day lives. I'm not talking about year-long vacations in the Caribbean or thirty-room ocean side estates ? not that those wouldn't be nice. I'm talking about what's coming to you in the context of your everyday life. This book is an outgrowth of discussions I've had with people from all walks of life. I'll be amazed if you don't see yourself in almost every page of the book ? feelings you've had, situations you've been in, that are nearly identical to those of the people whose real-life experiences pack these pages. I've talked to machinists and mothers, assistants and managers, senior citizens and teenagers, factory workers and therapists, writers and all manner of othr business people. I've been on call-in radio programs and seen the switchboard light up like a Christmas tree with people seeking advice on their particular problems. Everywhere I go, the message always seems to come down to this: "I need help in negotiating. I have a hard time standing up for my own cause. Too often, I'm shamed or manipulated into acting a certain way or doing something I don't want to do. Too often, I'm thrust into the position of having to struggle to get even the short end of the stick." Well, help is here! It's no secret why so many of us are uncomfortable negotiating for ourselves. Practically from the cradles---at home, school, church, and office ? we've been conditioned to be obedient, to accept things as they are; in short, not to rock the boat. We have been brought up in a world of seemingly "fixed" prices, "inflexible" rules, and "immutable" decisions. We go into a store looking for a refund on a defective microwave oven we bought 35 days ago. "Sorry," the salesclerk tells us, "but our policy is no refunds or exchanges after 30 days." So we gulp, pick up our broken microwave, and head for home, right? Wrong! We negotiate . . . with the clerk, the clerk's boss, the boss's boss, or whoever has the clout to help us. And by the time we get to the end of this book, we're going to stand one heck of a chance of walking out of that store with either a new microwave or a refund. If we'd been brought up in a different culture, we'd have a completely different attitude toward negotiation. In many places in the world, negotiation is a way of life, a

You Don't Have to Take No for an Answer

4

process deeply woven into the social fabric. I was traveling in Morocco not long ago, and the people there negotiate for everything, from spices to rugs. I saw two guys bargaining like the world was at stake over the price of a chicken.

We're at the other extreme. We negotiate very infrequently. And that's because, except for diplomats, salespeople, real estate brokers, lawyers ? people who make their living negotiating ? the process is alien to us. Sure, we have a few ritualized negotiating situations such as buying a car or a house, for example, but for most of us that's about it.

The truth is that the negotiating opportunities in our daily lives are virtually endless. Most things really are negotiable, no matter what we've been trained to think, which is why I call negotiation a life skill. If you find yourself doubting it, ask yourself if you've ever wanted to or will ever want to:

C Reach a fair settlement with an insurance company for a claim on an accident/theft/medical bill?

C Have more time to finish a big assignment at work? C Have your landlord repair the faucet/toilet/ceiling/etc.? C Secure a bigger budget for your department? C Decide on a vacation both you and your spouse will be happy with? C Have the dry cleaner compensate you for the skirt or jacket he ruined? C Get a higher salary for a new job? C Get a bigger raise than was offered? C Get Mom and Dad to give you the car for the big date on Saturday night? C Get the people you live with to shoulder more household responsibilities? C Buy a house for less than the asking price, with washer and dryer thrown

in to boot? C Get your child into that special program that's always full? C Have a repairman finish a job by the date-and for the price-he said he

would? C Convince your church/club/organization to have this year's

picnic/outing/retreat where you want it instead of at the awful place they had it last year?

I could go on and on. Doubtless you can think of numerous other examples from your own life. Can we avoid negotiating in these situations? Absolutely. One student of mine was so negotiation-shy that when he went shopping for a used car, he refused to answer any advertisement that said "Make an offer." Why? Because he was afraid of making an offer the seller might find ridiculous. We can rationalize until the cows come home. We can squeeze by for another six months without the raise. The skirt the dry cleaner wrecked was about to be thrown away. And who cares about that dumb special program? Our child probably would be under too much pressure in it anyhow.

In this book, we're going to learn to stop rationalizing. We're going to stop avoiding negotiation. We're going to dispel its negative image, strip away our fears and misconceptions, and come to see negotiation for what it truly is ? an opportunity: a reasoned, orderly, comprehensible process that we can employ, easily and effectively, to get more of what we want out of life.

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