NEGOTITATOR

Exchange of goods and services without using cash. Sometimes prevalent in times of war, revolution, hyperinflation and other disasters. Anybody with anything to trade can try bartering to get what they want. Children barter toys because they have no cash. In the “soft” or “black” economy people trade their labor for food, their surplus food for timber, and their surplus household fixtures for whatever they can get for them. Barter is less efficient than cash, if cash is available, and requires haggling skills. 

Some forms of language help negotiators, others do not. The following language does not help.

Q: I’ll increase my offer by ten. How about that?

A: Okay, we’ll throw in two extra terminals.

Q: If I improve the payback period, will that do?

A: We’ll cover the insurance costs, okay?

These are unconditional offers. They do not require anything in exchange. Any unconditional offer is movements towards giving in. if they are moving at “no cost to you”, keep them moving by asking for more.

Illustrates the relationship between the offers of two negotiations. The first offer we make is not the final offer that we might make.

We open with our entry point; where we are prepared to move to is our exit point. The distance between them is our negotiable range.

• The distance between our entry point and theirs is the bargaining continuum.
• If our exit points overlap we could settle anywhere in the overlap. This is the settlement area.
• If our exit points do not meet or overlap we are unlikely to settle.

Getting something you value highly for something you value less. Bargaining is based on the exchanging something for something.

When you buy food in exchange for cash you value the food more than you do the cash, otherwise you would stay hungry. The seller values the cash more than the food; otherwise they would do without the cash. At eh moment of the trade you each get a bargain.

To bargain, discover what you have that the other party values highly and what they have that you want.