Negotiation Tool 8 : Bending Reality
Neuroscience teaches us that fear is a dominant factor in decision-making which makes “fear of loss” that much more powerful of a tool in negotiation. Loss aversion allows you to bend reality so it’s key to find out what the other side is in fear of losing.
“Fear of loss is what keeps people up at night.”
Questions to find answers to:
- What are they going to lose if they don’t make the deal?
- What are they going to lose if they make the deal?
Example: Two Choices
- “Our solution will make your company 23% more money”
- “If you don’t choose our solution and stick with what you are doing, it will cost you 23% every single day.”
The second one is much more compelling because is uses loss aversion.
Fairness
Appeal to their sense of fairness. Chris calls this the “F bomb.” Fairness is what makes or breaks deals.
With this in mind, try starting all your negotiation by saying…
“It’s my intention to treat you fairly. If at any point I’ve been unfair, let me know and we will go back and address it.”
Make the last impression the lasting impression by being positive and state why you are there:
- “I’m here because I want to make a deal.”
- “We are here because we want to have a great long-term partnership. How should we proceed?”
“Fear of loss completely distorts your counterpart’s perception so much that it effectively bends their reality.”
Note : Since these are mostly notes, I have tried not to be extra creative with my sentences. The phrases are mostly extracted from the source, as they were. Due credits go to MasterClass.
