Negotiating With Tough Customers

INTRODUCTION: ENOUGH OF THE WIN-WIN ALREADY

The fifth-most-successful business book of all time and number-one negotiation book by a large, large margin is Getting to Yes, Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by William Ury and Roger Fisher, published in 1981. The book initiated an extraordinary shift in corporate America’s negotiation philosophy from zero-sum to win-win. What was once considered an adversarial, often-contentious struggle between buyers and sellers shifted to a collaborative, problem-solving mindset as it became clear that the zero-sum negotiating philosophy of “I win only if you lose” did not always fit in a world of business interdependencies and cooperation. The authors recognized that, although zero-sum negotiators may ...