When I was about 6 years old, I was afraid to try to swim. I sank like a rock every time I picked my feet up off the ground. So my Uncle took me out in a rowboat and threw me out of it into water that was over my head. In a sink or swim situation, I learned to swim. Fast! Then I discovered something odd. Once I gained the confidence to start swimming, I couldn't sink anymore. I couldn't remain under water without effort. I automatically bobbed to the surface. What caused this phenomenon? Confidence. As long as I believed I couldn't swim, I couldn't. Once I believed I could, I could. This same principal applies to successful negotiation. You've got to really believe that you can get what you want out of a deal before you start. Learning to do this isn't easy, but it's something that everyone can attain with effort.

Continue reading “Successful Negotiation is a Confidence Game”

When presenting unusual offers, you have to sell the 'sizzle' not the steak. Rather than extol the merits of a particular product or financial proposition in itself, you're best served by presenting a picture of how a person's life can be changed for the better by concluding a transaction the way you've presented it. You've got to plumb the depths to create an emotional response in the other party. You can do this by answering what might well be the 5 most important words in the English language: 'What's in it for me?' Answering this unspoken question in the mind of the seller goes a long way toward having your offer accepted.

Continue reading “Preparation and Presentation Are the Keys to Success”

   Watch TV for an evening, or read the retail advertisements in your daily paper and you'll see that most of the presentation is designed to elicit an emotional rather than a rational response. The tools of the trade from the standpoint of the vendor is to create a sense of urgency in the other party. See how many of the following ploys you recognize. (1) A certain product will no longer be available once the inventory has been sold. (2) The sale ends tomorrow. (3) For the next 3 days, a car dealer will sell below costs in order to become number one in sales regardless of profits. (4) The new models will be 10% more expensive. (5) I can get zero FHA points if we can lock in a deal today. (6) There's another buyer who is going to make an offer tonight.

Continue reading “First, You Have to Stimulate an Emotionanl Response”

 It's easy to picture a good negotiator as a professional who would never allow emotions to intrude into a bargaining session; but that's because we only think of negotiation in the context of a commercial transaction. Negotiation is pervasive in all aspects of human existence. Some of the best negotiators in the world are under 4 feet tall. They're children. Kids are routinely able to extract concessions from bigger and more powerful adults with very little effort by playing on their emotions. We let them get away with this because they're so vulnerable. We bend over backward not to take advantage of them. Even tiny tots learn to exploit this trait to manipulate adults around them. Early on they also learn to interpret body language and facial expressions; then find ways to use adults' emotions to get their own way time and time again.

Continue reading “Emotions Influence Negotiation as Often as Economics”

Because of so many car dealers and retailers offering discount and rebate coupons as part of their marketing strategies, people have become accustomed to playing pricing games when they sell.  The reasoning goes that the buyer is going to offer less than the asking price, so the price should be increased to allow a discount to be offered.  Oddly enough, this works just enough times to encourage people to do it.  Because of this, buying at a bargain price could well require the buyer to not only discount the inflated price, but to get a discount from fair market value as well.  Not an easy task.  The secret is to get the other party into a frame of mind where he wants to deal with you, and can excuse himself for accepting less, or paying more, than he had expected to do.

Continue reading “Putting Your Best Foot Forward When Negotiating Offers”

Although buyers are most concerned with down payment and monthly payment when they buy, almost every seller is more acutely tuned to the price offered for a house when the transactions boils down to the buyer getting a new loan and paying cash.  Both of them should be more concerned with the loan terms.

Continue reading “Where Profit Was Once Made in the Price, During This Cycle it Will be Made in the Terms”

Sometimes we leave money on the table because we’re focused solely on one aspect of a transaction rather than looking at all the possibilities. An easy example of this is when we have a chance to bid at a foreclosure sale on a property that seems unfit for human habitation, and we don’t bid, letting it go back to the lender. In so doing we let the undesirability of the property distract us from considering the desirability of the land it is situated on which sometimes can be worth many times the value of the improvements.

Continue reading “Dissecting A Deal”