You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen

Yesterday I finished reading You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen, which may or may not be considered a “business” book, but can certainly be considered a member of the self-help genre of books.  Today at the pet store, I used one of the tactics Cohen mentions in

achieving mutual satisfaction when I was buying a moss ball for my science project at school.  I may be basking in my joy a little, but I feel pretty good that I got what I wanted, the store was satisfied that I’d made a purchase and I’m proud that I implemented a tactic from this book!

REVIEW

In You Can Negotiate Anything, Cohen truly promises that almost everything can be negotiated.  Marriages, financial related topics, family relationships, seller related topics etc.  Through reading this book, I think these are the three main ideas I’ve grasped:

1. Investment in time and energy. One of the keys to success in negotiation is having the other side invest time and energy into the negotiation.  Herb Cohen offers the following example in one of the earlier chapters in the book.  Let’s say I’m going to buy a suit at a special suit store, and that particular day, business just doesn’t seem to be going the right direction.  I go to the store and the salesman greets me and helps me find suits that would fit me in the colors that I want.  He lays them out after 30 minutes on a table.  I look at the collection he’s laid out for me and shake my head.  I tell the salesman that I’m looking for the suit perfect suit.  Then, I to the rack of suits [ the ones that are not laid out for me], and take my measuring tape and measure all the lapels, attempting to buy the suit with the perfect lapel length!  Meanwhile, the salesman continues talking to me, trying to convince me to buy perhaps the most suit in the store.  I keep measuring the lapels.  Two hours have passed and I’m still measuring!  This is a clear and overly exaggerated example of having the other side invest time and energy because when I finally find the suit with the perfect lapel length, I say to the salesman, “you know, I like this suit…but you know, it’s a bit on the pricey side”.  After spending two hours with you measuring lapel lengths on a day of poor business, the salesman will probably cut the price down without much hesitation.
2. When negotiating for mutual satisfaction, learn each other’s needs. Firstly, I’ve learned that people are multi-faceted, meaning they care about a wide range of things.  For example, let’s say I want to get a raise.  I am getting paid $50,000 a year right now, but I want $70,000.  I tell my boss this request.  He says he won’t pay me over $60,000.  The key here, is to negotiate needs, not conclusions.  Instead of focusing on negotiating the salary I’m looking for, focus instead on getting to know why I need a raise.  For example, let’s say I’m planning an exotic vacation, or I moved to the city where the rent is more expensive, or the company no longer pays my daily parking fees.  I could talk with my boss about over ways to be compensated.  Maybe I could get my boss to pay for my parking again and pay half my rent and keep my salary at $60,000.  In other words, the key to negotiating for mutual satisfaction, is to understand each other’s needs and focus on negotiating how to meet those needs instead of how to compromise on each others conclusions.  
3. Anything that was the product of a negotiation is negotiable. In other words, timelines, due dates, and prices are often negotiable since they were the product of a negotiation.  Something people do a lot is take signs and words too legitimately.  If the hotel says checkout is at 11:00 AM, they’re not going to punish you for leaving at 2:00 PM.  Cohen tells an interesting story about his experience at a hotel with a checkout time of 11.  At 10:45, when he headed back to his room to fetch his bag, there was no one in line at the checkout desk.  At 11:00 when he came down stairs to leave the hotel, there was a massive line waiting to checkout.  The hotel managers negotiated together when the hotel first opened that 11:00 was a suitable checkout time, thus, if you stretch it a few hours this way or that, they won’t punish you [since they could’ve determined that checkout time be 2 instead of 11 when they first decided upon this time].  This example is actually pretty personal to me as well.  I used to read the cards the hotels had on the desk describing the logistics of the hotels and I would always read the checkout time.  When I was younger, I took it too legitimately. I would rush my parents to make the checkout time.  Now that’s different.  

This book truly teaches you that You Can Negotiate Anything. I recommend this as a quick read.  It only takes the investment of time and energy into learning one tactic to make yourself a better negotiator!  Right now, I’m looking forward to reading Thanks For Being Late, by Tom Friedman, which was recommended by an acquaintance of mine.