Do you need information that someone isn’t willing to give up? What happens in a negotiation when someone shares information?
Herb Cohen says that in a win-lose negotiation, each party has a negotiation ceiling: the maximum amount they’re willing to sacrifice in exchange for what they want. The goal is to discover the other party’s true ceiling while hiding your true ceiling so they can’t do the same to you.
Discover how to get information out of someone while staying an enigma.
Discover Your Opponent’s Negotiation Ceiling (and Hide Yours)
Generally, any information about either party is a clue—big or small—about their negotiation ceiling. Thus, win-lose negotiators try to reveal as little as possible about themselves and the situation they’re in. For example, if you’re looking to sell a fast-food franchise location, you would want to hide the fact that you’re moving into a more affordable house because you can’t pay your mortgage. If you even make an offhand comment about how your kids are about to go to college, it could hint to opposing negotiators that you’re strapped for cash.
To learn how to get information out of someone so you have the advantage, Cohen recommends making the other party do as much of the talking as possible.
| How to Extract Information Discovering your opponent’s negotiation ceiling is all about getting them to confess as much relevant information as possible. Here are some tips for how to do so: Every time the other person stops talking, pause for a few seconds before responding. Often, people will fill that silence with valuable information—especially if they’re nervously trying to hide something. Give nonverbal signals of interest: Rub your chin and nod your head to make it look like you’re absorbing and reflecting on what they’re saying. This encourages the other party to keep talking while allowing you to stay completely silent, eliminating the risk that you’ll give away key information. Share something basic and human to create feelings of connection that will help get the other party to open up. For example, negotiate while splitting lunch or snacks, or pour the two of you a drink. |
Another Important Ceiling: Time Limits
In every negotiation, each party also has a time limit, after which they can no longer make a deal. No matter who you’re negotiating against, Cohen argues that they have a time limit, even if it isn’t obvious. For instance, let’s say your boss gives you an additional task that you don’t have time to do, and you go into their office to talk them into assigning it to someone else. If you keep negotiating and refuse to leave, it might be 20 minutes before they decide that you’re taking too much of their time, and they’ll force the negotiation to a conclusion.
Cohen contends that most negotiators wait until the last possible second—just before their time limit—to offer everything they’re willing to offer (in other words, to hit their negotiation ceiling). Why? This gives them the most time to convince the other party to agree to more favorable terms. There’s no reason for them to reveal their true negotiation ceiling until they run out of time to make the deal.
This means that if you know the opposing negotiator’s time limit and they don’t know yours, you can confidently hold out, giving in to few or none of their demands, until their time limit arrives. They’ll assume you’re under less time pressure than you really are and will make an offer at their negotiation ceiling just before their time limit.
| Counterpoint: Intentionally Reveal Your Time Limit In Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss cites You Can Negotiate Anything and specifically argues against the negotiation strategy Cohen recommends here. According to Voss, if you hide your time limit from the other party, they might assume that you have more time to make a deal than you really do. If this happens, you’ll be the only one making concessions since you’re the only one who knows about your impending time limit. Rather than hiding your time limit, Voss recommends being open about it and flipping it into a deadline for the other negotiator. State outright that you’re going to walk away if they haven’t given you an acceptable deal before your time limit. This way, you can force your opponent to start bartering in earnest and make concessions of their own, regardless of their time limit. They don’t want the deal to fall through, wasting everyone’s time. |
