You’re Doing Negotiations Wrong
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Daily Thought
Amateurs open with best price. Savvy negotiators start extreme then find acceptable middle grounds still favorable to them. Control conversations by anchoring high.
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Negotiation is treated like a chore, when really it’s an art form. A canvas for creativity.
Yet most fail to realize the immense power hidden within conversational influence.
We shy away from even basic bartering, scared of potential awkwardness or pushback. So we take the first semi-reasonable offer thrown our way, not wanting to rock the boat.
This failure to anchor negotiations in our favor forfeits immense value over a lifetime. But it takes awareness to see it.
Anchoring is the art of imprinting an extreme number in the other person's mind, so that the entire negotiation warps around that gravitational point.
By launching negotiations from an unreasonable galaxy far, far away, the other party orbits down in your favor. It exploits human psychology - we rationalize based on available information rather than objective reality.
This Jedi mind trick sees amateur negotiators beaten before talks even start. Don’t open with your best offer. Open on another planet. Force the other party to play in YOUR atmosphere.
Even experienced negotiators can fall prey to skilled anchoring maneuvers.
Ever walk into a car dealership “knowing your budget” only to get anchored above it by a smiling con(car)-artist?
Often before even discussing vehicles?
Next negotiation, whether buying a phone, car or asking for a promotion:
Anchor stupid high. Uncomfortably high. Anchor where it makes you question if you’ve gone too far. Loot at the shock and glee on their face telling you how unreasonable that sounds.
Then let THEM talk you down twice as far to reach “agreement.”
In doing so, gain infinitely more value from negotiations most run from.
Therein lies life’s greatest hack - mastering the hidden arts invisible to amateurs.
Start anchoring high and bend any negotiation to your favor.