The Negotiation Book: Your Definitive Guide To Successful Negotiating

1.1. INTRODUCTION

Negotiation affects every part of our lives: the things we buy, the services we use, the holidays we book and the bread that we eat all come at a price. The price that the consumer pays for products and services is usually the outcome of what has been negotiated between two or more parties. So the next time the price of chocolate biscuits increases by 10 pence you may want to think: is that inflation, a material cost price increase, a price repositioning against another chocolate biscuit manufacturer, or has there been a negotiation between the supplier and the retailer resulting in a price increase? If there has, it may have involved a broad range of issues such as the funding of a special promotion, a change in the agreed payment terms, perhaps a pack size change or even something as simple as the packaging being made from a different material.

In The Negotiation Book I have set out to provide a philosophy on negotiation, which is not prescriptive, but aims to provide the necessary insights for you to get better deals by being aware that it is you who are responsible for making decisions based on your own judgement. The amount of time people actually spend negotiating is very small in the context of their whole job and yet the consequences of their performance during negotiations will often distinguish how successful they are. In this book, I have set out to provide you with both the questions and, of course, the answers that will promote your appetite and ...