Negotiation

The negotiation exercise that was conducted in class was an interesting look into real world negotiation tactics and application. I'd like to discuss the possibilities of negotiation tactics a little further by diving into the article called "Secrets of Power Negotiating" written by Roger Dawson. Most of the time two people are  negotiating for themselves. They both want something from the negotiating and what technique they use and how effective they use it depends on whether they achieve their goal. The first technique that is explained within the article is "Asking for more than you want". This type of strategy was apparent in some of the negotiating within the class exercise. We saw some initial offerings that were higher in terms of the sellers and some initial offerings that were pretty low on the buyers part. These initial offerings set the precedence for negotiation. They establish a range of integers that can be discussed and mused on, and depending on the number it may help your negotiation position. In the one case recorded in class one individual offered at a high price of $70. They were the seller and they completely blindside the buyer, this is a pure example of how your initial asking price can work within your favor when negotiating a price. The second piece of advice offered up by the article is to NEVER say  yes to the first offer. This is pretty understandable, because you want to feel around in order to know how low they are willing to go. Yet again there were at least two examples in class of this happening. The sellers offered up a low price of $18 or $20 and the buyers took it right away. In this case I believe both parties to be at fault, but I think the sellers may have been more at fault in this particular situation and I will explain why. The buyers knew what their price range was and what they wanted to achieve so when a low number such as $18 or $20 was thrown out  there they took it without a second thought. The sellers should have argued for a higher price instead of agreeing with the buyers. They made a mistake, in this case they screwed themselves out of the possibility of obtaining a better price on their product they are selling. In the context their boss may have taken disciplinary action or even fired them. This is just a brief look into applying some of the negotiating tactics from the article and using it to analyze our in class exercise.