Chapter 33
Always Congratulate the Other Side
However poorly you think the other person may have done in the negotiations, you should always congratulate the other side when you’re through negotiating, Say, “Wow—did you do a fantastic job negotiating that. I realize that I didn’t get as good a deal as I could have, but frankly, it was worth it because I learned so much about negotiating. You were brilliant.” You want the other person to feel that he or she won in the negotiations.
When I published an earlier book on negotiating, a newspaper reviewed it and took exception to my saying that you should always congratulate, saying that it was clearly manipulative to congratulate the other side when you didn’t really think that they had won. I disagree. ...