4 things the guy across the desk in a negotiation doesn’t want you to know

As a negotiator, there are some things that the guy across the desk doesn’t want you to know. As you might expect, they’re exactly the things you need to know.  Here are the top 4 we cover in our negotiation training: BTW, you should keep these close to the vest yourself.

1. He doesn’t want you to know his bottom line. In a sales negotiation, the professional salesman will be masterful at not disclosing the lowest price he can sell for.  

2. He doesn’t want you to know his top line.  On the other end of sales negotiation, If you’re selling and he’s buying from you he doesn’t want you to know the top he’s willing to pay - how high he’ll go.

As a negotiator, you have to become masterful at holding your car cards close to the vest.  A bit of history  from our negotiation training - to keep something “close to your vest” is an allusion to the game of poker.  When a poker player holds his or her cards close to the vest it keeps other players from seeing their hand. Likewise, good negotiators avoid disclosing certain information, emotions, or other factors that might otherwise compromise their position. That’s where we get the phrase, “poker face”.

3. He doesn’t want you to know his timeline.  In sales negotiation, a high % of the concessions happen in the last minutes of negotiation.  A high percentage of scoring takes place in the NFL  the last two minutes before halftime and the last two minutes of the game. There’s also a high percentage of fumbles and interceptions in those two minutes.  That’s because of time pressure. The same is true of negotiations. If the person with whom you’re negotiating has a timeline, it helps you immeasurably to know it. That’s not always easy.

If he’s a good negotiator he could have a limo running in the driveway to go to the airport, and appear to have days left to finish the negotiation.  As for you, if you have a timeline, keep it to yourself! 

4. He doesn’t want you to know his options.  If he has options, you need to know.  If he doesn’t have options, you need to know. Along those lines, if you have options, keep them to yourself, unless it serves you well to disclose them.

These aren’t tactics.  They have more to do with strategy, but they’re important.

Good negotiating to you!