Negotiation strategies that make money

Funny Money is ‘Money whose value has been artificially increased, or money that is not worth as much as it appears to be:   The banks have used funny money generated by creative accountancy to deal with vast amounts of public debt’ (Cambridge Dictionary) In negotiation people use ‘funny money’ as a strategy to make money look insignificant. The aim is to put the other party under pressure and make them agree to a deal that is unfavourable to them. This tactic is used especially when dealing with big numbers. Let’s say two parties are negotiating over a $12.25 million contract. The buying party is asking for a 2.25% discount. They make it look like it is only a small ask, so not much to the overall price. What they don’t mention is the dollar amount for good reason. When the situation is already tense and the selling party is already under pressure to get the deal the selling party might agree to the deal without even having checked the actual number because it did no...

I recently had to get an arborist to do some tree pruning at our house. An arborist is not someone that I would call on very often hence I wondered how do I know that I got the best offer? Yes, you can get a comparison quote, which I did get, but then again was this the best offer I could get? Here are 5 steps that assist in determining if you got the best offer: 1)      Build rapport and sympathy People like to deal with people they like, so why burn your bridges and play hard ball.   People like to be of help so assume good intentions build rapport and trust. 2)      Reject the offer politely Tell the other party that their price is too high. While you would like to consider them for the job you would like them to review their offer. 3)      Think about their motivations Put yourself in their shoes. What motivates them to get this work? Is it money, is it the prospect of more work or are d...