David Gustafsson

We have just sold our car. Yes it is true. I have already begun to miss her. I am satisfied with the deal we made. It was the first serious buyer that had looked at the car (one other guy that gave me a too low first offer to be taken seriously). The hours before the sale I read one of last weeks articles for the class in negotiations skills. I think that it helped. The article was about strategy and tactics in distributed bargaining. Distributed bargaining is the toughest negotiation to close a deal in. That is because this is the type of negotiation is characterised with that only one issue is discussed; most often the price.

Negotiation is really not just about psychology. A good negotiator carefully plan and uses all information that can possibly be required in favour. A negotiator that have not spent an hour planning should not negotiate. A few things to consider is the resistance point, target point and first offer. Also the so called BATNA (best alternative to negotiated agreement) is important. Assess these points for yourself and your opponent in advance. Also think about such things as time constraints and if you have advantage in knowing the market.

Negotiations

I am not the best negotiator. Hopefully the course in negotiation skills will help me to learn something. We got the price that we asked for in our advertisement without having to make to many concessions. Maybe that was the course that already starts to pay of. If you think about it, is there really a better course for a wannabe manager to study than negotiation. A good negotiator still uses the same practises as back in the days when everything was about trading cattle…