Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

Most people can't negotiate at all. They think they can but that's because they haven't defined what it means to win in a negotation. For instance I have a friend who is an aggressive and competitive negotiator who almost always wants to win and for his opponent to lose (WIN - lose). His problem is that he almost always loses but doesn't consider it a loss since he moves the goal posts or he starts to play another game. He goes from a game of business negotiation, loses, then makes it a moral issue where he believes he wins. In fact he loses that too. To top it all off he is also very emotional so he argues from emotion, not logic.This book would help him. He could see that in most of his big moralistic wins he actually lost and lost big. He would have seen that he was in an inferior position when it came to leverage. Often times he had a lot to lose and a lot to win but since his goal was to win 100% he often lost that much. He came away with nothing. If armed with this book he would know better and would try to get as much as he could in his inferior position. He would be negotiating with logic and not emotion. He would define "winning" in a different way.However we need not dwell on my friend. Let me tell you what I took away from this book. I learned that figuring out a person's negotiating style and determining who had the leverage were the most important things. If I come across a compromising person with a lot of leverage I become an aggressive negotiator and I try to get as much as possible without losing the deal. If somebody is a weak negotiator I am ruthless regardless of their leverage. If I have all the leverage and nothing to lose I'll be aggressive again. I compromise when I know I have little to know leverage but I never give up that fact to the person I'm negotiating with. Lastly, I always try to make the deal be perceived as a win-win no matter what I was thinking. They get some of what they want but I got most of all I want.However, I have learned more about negotiating since this book so let me tell you that this is not the end-all, be-all of negotiating books. Read others, take seminars, research different approaches and you'll get better and better. This book gives an amazing foundation for you. It's taught in some law school negotiation classes and it's on a lot of business school class syllabi. It will frame your thinking on negotiations and teach you to be logical instead of emotional.The book is practical, logical and can be applied the same day you read it. If you read one business book this year read this one. The other is just noise (unless it's another classic in negotiating.)

Enjoyed throughout the entire book

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.This book is a pretty good guide that helps you understand many strategies and tactics you can use OR that will be used against you in negotiations. Shell gives many examples of the strategies in tactics in action to help drive the points home.There’s a “personality test” of sorts you can take to understand the type of negotiator you are, which helps guide how you would use the different strategies and tactics.In many ways, this books almost feels like a watered down version of Robert Cialdini’s Influence book, but with a focus on negotiations. In fact, Shell even says in the beginning that his writing of this book was inspired by Influence.I’m not entirely sure this book truly lives up to all its promises, but it is still an informative read.

Un libro que nos ayuda a estructurar la negociación y nos da tácticas según la situación para salir mejor posicionados.

Very useful book. Ideas are presented slowly and carefully and are not difficult to understand. So glad I got it.

Great book for anyone looking to improve their negotiating skills, whether for personal or business negotiations.

Not enough content to hold my attention. It's a basic discussion. What it covers is realistic but it didn't add enough information to what I already knew for me to be worth my time to focus on, or even keeping. I read it, but discarded it afterwards. Three stars as I don't disagree with any of the advice it offers.

What is common among Donald Trump, Benjamin Franklin, J. P. Morgan, Sony's Akio Morita, your boss, your customer and your daughter?They will all bargain with you for things they need and more importantly, for things you need from them.Rchard Shell's practical, easy to understand book lays the intriguing art of negotation bare. Unlike other "coaches", Shell invokes real examples of multi billion dollar deals to get his point across and this is what sets this book apart. You will not see just what needs to be done but also how to do it. Shell serves you the bargaining do's and don'ts hot from the negotiating tables of legendary leaders of our times as well of past. We hear how Benjamin Franklin and Mahatma Gandhi negotiated their way into the system that was unbiased and unjust and managed to use it to their advantage.We see how Sony became a household brand because Morita said no to a deal of a lifetime when he thought he wan't getting a good deal.Shell starts with fundamentals, 6 of them, to help you realize your style of bargaining and best strategy according to your style. He gets into leverage and strategy and then explains 4 principles that will guide you through the actual process of negotiation. He even provides a chart for you to maintain, if you think you are confused or nervous. With the tools available in this book, and a little practice, you can gain self confidence needed for winning on the negotiation table.

Fundamental for learning negotiations in business.

Still actual and very well organized

It arrived a bit beat up; that’s unfortunate 😞

The author explains the psychological, ethical and philosophical motivations behind negotiation strategies. And asks the reader to look honestly at their own personality before deciding how to craft a negotiation.The book is packed full of insightful examples, from securing a discount on a tie to buying mineral deposits on another continent.The author writes in a confident manner that clearly comes from years of negotiating experience, researching a wide-range of negotiations and teaching others to negotiate.Very helpful text.

I bought this book for a business negotiation seminar. Easy to read and great advices. I recommend it without a doubt !