Bargaining for Advantage Quotes

“To be good, you must learn to be yourself at the bargaining table.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“In markets, you gain leverage by your power to walk away. Inside organizations, you gain leverage by having control over key items such as resources, decisions, budgets, information, and the like.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“Develop a specific alternative as a fallback if the negotiation fails. If you can’t walk away, you can’t say no. Too often, cooperative people leave themselves without choices at the bargaining table. They have no alternatives planned if negotiations fail. Coaching note: your preparation must always include plan B. Life will go on if there is no deal, so find out what your alternatives are, work on improving them, and bring a clear vision of them with you to the negotiation. Remember the lesson of Janie Rail in chapter 6. Build your own railroad if you have to. There is always an alternative.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“First, all deals that close are win-win deals. The two sides would not agree to a proposal unless they thought agreement was better for them than no deal.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“Gently push back, at least for one round. Cooperative people are programmed to say yes to the first reasonable proposal someone makes. To improve, you need to practice pushing back a little. A simple question that works well is: “Can you do better than that?” If the other side says no and you feel you can sustain the process for another round, ask for help understanding why that is the best they can do. If their answer makes no sense, share your confusion. You will get farther with a little polite persistence than you will by quick surrender.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“Negotiation scholars have observed this phenomenon so often we have a name for it: “escalation of commitment.” People lose sight of their real goals in competitive situations and pay far too much money, spend too much time, or sacrifice too many other interests for the privilege of saying they have won.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“A negotiation is an interactive communication process that may take place whenever we want something from someone else or another person wants something from us.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“people who expect more generally get more.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“My own experience and a lot of research tell me that you already have what it takes to be a highly competent negotiator.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“Gently push back, at least for one round. Cooperative people are programmed to say yes to the first reasonable proposal someone makes. To improve, you need to practice pushing back a little. A simple question that works well is: “Can you do better than that?”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“The more the other party needs what you can offer, the more they will feel the loss if you walk away. And the more likely they are to say yes to your terms.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“The best way to fight this is to recognize it, name it, and refuse to go along with it.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

“In auction situations, the final bidder overpays so often that economists call the accompanying feeling of regret the “winner’s curse.”
― G. Richard Shell, Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People