Negotiation Tactics

• All I've Got: Limit apparent availability.
• Auction: Set sellers or buyers against one another.
• Bad Publicity: Indicate bad publicity of not agreeing.
• Behavior Labeling: Saying what you will do.
• Better Offer: indicate a better offer from the competition.
• Better Than That: Just say 'You'll have to do better than that...'.
• Biased Choice: Offering choices that already include your biases.
• Big Fish: Show you're the big fish and they could get eaten.
• Blackmail: Threaten negative consequences.
• Bluff: Assert things that are not true.
• Breaking it Off: Walking away from the negotiation.
• Bribery: Do that and I'll give you this.
• Brooklyn Optician: price or negotiate each item.
• Call Girl: Ask to be paid up front.
• Cards on the Table: State your case, clearly and completely.
• Change the Negotiator: New person can reset the rules.
• Changing Standards: Change the benchmarks of good and bad.
• Check the Facts: Bring up new information you have found.
• Control the Agenda: And hence what is discussed.
• Credentials: Show how clever you are.
• Deadlines: Push them up against the wall of time.
• Delays: Buying time and building tension.
• Divide and Conquer: Get them arguing with one another.
• Doomsday: paint an overly black picture.
• Double Agent: Get one of their people on your side.
• Dry Well: Show you've nothing left to exchange.
• Empty Pockets: Say you can't afford it, don't have it, etc.
• Empty Promises: Make promises that you know you will not keep.
• Escalating Demand: the more you get the more you require.
• Expanding the Pie: Ensuring there's more for everyone.
• Fair Criteria: Set decisions criteria such that is is perceived as fair.
• False Deadline: Time limitation on their action.
• Faking: Letting them believe something about you that is not true.
• Fame: Appeal to their need for esteem from others.
• Flattery: Make them look good and then ask for concession.
• Flip a Coin: Suggest random chance.
• Food Control: Control what and when they eat and drink.
• Forced Choice: Subtly nudging them toward your choice.
• Funny Money: Financial games, percentages, increments, etc.
• Fragmentation: Breaking big things into lots of little things.
• Go For A Walk: Take time out to change.
• Good Guy/Bad Guy: Hurt and rescue by people.
• Highball: Sellers--start high and you can always go down.
• Hire an Expert: Get an expert negotiator or subject expert on your team.
• Incremental Conversion: Persuade one person at a time. Then use them as allies.
• Interim Trade: Make an exchange during negotiation that will not get into the final contract.
• Invoke Rules: Bring up standards they should follow.
• It'll be Alright on the Night: Promise future success.
• Lawyer: Use survey results, facts, logic, leading question.
• Leaking: Let them find out 'secret' information.
• Linking: Connect benefit and cost, strong and weak.
• Log-rolling: Concede on low-priority items.
• Lowball: Buyers--start low and you can always go up.
• Make a Mountain out of a Molehill: Amplify small things.
• Misleading Information: Lead them up the wrong path.
• New Issue: Introduce a new key issue during the negotiation.
• New player: Another person who wants what you have appears on the scene.
• Nibbling: constant adding of small requirements.
• No Authority: refuse to agree because you are not allowed to.
• Non-negotiable: Things that cannot be negotiated.
• Not Happy: Say you're not happy.
• Overwhelm: Cover them in requests or information.
• Padding: Make unimportant things 'essential' then concede them.
• Phasing: Offer to phase in/out the unpleasant bits.
• Plant: A 'neutral' person who is really working for you.
• Play Dumb: Act stupid to avoid clever stuff.
• Price Not Negotiable: So focus on other things.
• Quivering Quill: ask for concession just before signing.
• Red Herring: leave a false trail.
• Russian Front: Two alternatives, one intimidating.
• Reducing Choice: Offering a limited set of options.
• Rollercoastering: Taking them on an up and down ride.
• See You in Court: Threatening to go to a higher or public forum.
• Shotgun: Refusal to continue until a concession is gained.
• Side Payments: Add a cash balance.
• Slicing: Break one deal down into multiple smaller deals.
• Split the Difference: Offer to agree on a half-way position.
• Suggest Facilitation: Get a third party involved.
• Take a Break: Step out, change the flow.
• Take It or Leave It: Give only one option.
• Trial Balloon: Suggest a final solution and see if they bite.
• Understanding, Not Agreement: Say you understand but don't agree.
• Undiscussable: Things that cannot even be discussed.
• War: Threaten extreme action.
• Widows and Orphans: show the effect on the weak and innocent.
• Wince: Repeat price loudly, then silence.
• The Zone Defense: Individuals each have areas of responsibility.