NIBBLE NEGOTIATING

This is part 2 of Roger Dawson's article on using the nibble technique in negotiations. If you missed part 1, please scroll down to read it first.

Look out for people Nibbling on you

There's a point in the negotiation when you are very vulnerable, and that point is when you think the negotiations are all over.I bet you've been the victim of a Nibble at one time or another. You've been selling a car or a truck to someone. You're finally feeling good because you've found the buyer. The pressure and the tension of the negotiations have drained away. He's sitting in your office writing out the check. But just as he's about to sign his name he looks up and says,

"That does include a full tank of gas, doesn't it?"

You're at your most vulnerable point in the negotiations, for these two reasons:
You've just made a sale, and you're feeling good. When you feel good, you tend to give things away that you otherwise wouldn't.

You're thinking, "Oh, no. I thought we had resolved everything. I don't want to take a chance on going back to the beginning and re-negotiating the whole thing. If I do that, I might lose the entire sale. Perhaps I'm better off just giving in on this little point."

So, you're at your most vulnerable just after the other person has made the decision to go ahead. Look out for people Nibbling on you. Making a huge sale has excited you so much that you can't wait to call your sales manager and tell her what you've done. The buyer tells you that he needs to call purchasing and get a purchase order number for you. While he's on the telephone, he puts his hand over the mouthpiece and says, "By the way, you can give us 60 days on this, can't you? All of your competitors will." Look out for people Nibbling on you. Because you've just made a big sale, and you're afraid to reopen the negotiations for fear of losing it, you'll have to fight to avoid the tendency to make the concession.

Countering the Nibble when the other person does it to you.The Counter Gambit to the Nibble is to gently make the other person feel-cheap. You have to be very careful about the way you do this because obviously you're at a sensitive point in the negotiation. You smile sweetly and say: "Oh, come on, you negotiated a fantastic price with me. Don't make us wait for our money, too. Fair enough?" So, that's the Counter Gambit to the Nibble when it's used against you. Be sure that you do it with a big grin on your face, so that they don't take it too seriously.

So, consider these points when you go into negotiations:

Are there some elements that you are better off to bring up as a Nibble, after you have reached initial agreement?

Do you have a plan to make a second effort on anything to which you can't get them to agree the first time around?

Are you prepared for the possibility of them Nibbling on you at the last moment?

So, Power Negotiators always take into account the possibility of being able to Nibble. Timing is very critical-catching the other parties when the tension is off and they're feeling good because they think the negotiations are all over. On the other hand, looking out for the other side Nibbling on you at the last moment, when you're feeling good. At that point, you're the most vulnerable and liable to make a concession that half an hour later you'll be thinking-why on Earth did I do that? I didn't have to do that. We'd agreed on everything already.

Key points to remember:
With a well-timed Nibble, you can get things at the end of a negotiation that you couldn't have gotten the other side to agree to earlier.

It works because the other person's mind reverses itself after it has made a decision. He may have been fighting the thought of buying from you at the start of the negotiation. After he has made a decision to buy from you, however, you can Nibble for a bigger order, upgraded product, or additional services.
Being willing to make that additional effort is what separates great salespeople from merely good salespeople.

Stop the other person from Nibbling on you by showing her in writing the cost of any additional features, services, or extended terms, and by not revealing that you have the authority to make any concessions.

When the other person Nibbles on you, respond by making him feel cheap, in a good-natured way.

Avoid post-negotiation Nibbling by addressing and tying up all the details and using Gambits that cause them to feel that they won.

This article is excerpted in part from Roger Dawson's new book-Secrets of Power Negotiating, published by Career Press and on sale in bookstores everywhere for $24.99.

If You Don't Feel You're Getting Enough Out of a Negotiation, Nibble for More at the End
by Roger Dawson

Power Negotiators know that by using the Nibbling Gambit, you can get a little bit more even after you have agreed on everything. You can also get the other person to do things that she had refused to do earlier.

Car salespeople understand this, don't they? They know that when they get you on the lot, a kind of psychological resistance has built up to the purchase. They know to first get you to the point where you're thinking, "Yes, I'm going to buy a car. Yes, I'm going to buy it here." Even if it means closing you on any make and model of car, even a stripped down model that carries little profit for them.
Then they can get you into the closing room
and start adding all the other little extras that really build the profit into the car.

So, the principle of Nibbling tells you that you can accomplish some things more easily with a Nibble later in the negotiations.Children are brilliant Nibblers, aren't they? If you have teenage children living at home, you know that they don't have to take any courses on negotiating. But you have to-just to stand a chance of surviving the whole process of bringing them up-because they're naturally brilliant negotiators. Not because they learn it in school but because when they're little everything they get, they get with negotiating skills.

When my daughter, Julia, graduated from high school, she wanted to get a great high school graduation gift from me. She had three things on her hidden agenda. Number one, she wanted a five-week trip to Europe.

Number two; she wanted $1,200 in spending money. And number three; she wanted a new set of luggage.

She was smart enough not to ask for everything up front. She was a good enough negotiator to first close me on the trip, then come back a few weeks later and show me in writing that the recommended spending money was $1,200, and got me to commit to that. Then right at the last minute she came to me and she said, "Dad, you wouldn't want me going to Europe with that ratty old set of luggage would you? All the kids will be there with new luggage." And she got that too. Had she asked for everything up front, I would have negotiated out the luggage and negotiated down the spending money.

What's happening here is that a person's mind always works to reinforce decisions that it has just made. Power Negotiators know how this works and use it to get the other side to agree to something that he or she wouldn't have agreed to earlier in the negotiation.

Why is Nibbling such an effective technique? To find out why this works so well, a couple of psychologists did a study at a racetrack in Canada. They studied the attitude of people immediately before they placed the bet and again immediately after they placed the bet. They found out that before the people placed the bet, they were uptight, unsure, and anxious about what they were about to do. Compare this to almost anyone with whom you negotiate: They may not know you, they may not know your company, and they certainly don't know what's going to come out of this relationship. Chances are they're uptight, unsure, and anxious.

At the race track, the researchers found out that once people had made the decision to go ahead and place the bet that suddenly they felt very good about what they had just done and even had a tendency to want to double the bet before the race started. In essence, their minds did a flip-flop once they had made the decision. Before they decided, they were fighting it; once they'd made the decision, they supported it.

If you're a gambler, you've had that sensation, haven't you? Watch them at the roulette tables in Atlantic City or Vegas. The gamblers place their bets. The croupier spins the ball. At the very last moment, people are pushing out additional bets. The mind always works to reinforce decisions that it has made earlier.

So one rule for Power Negotiators is that you don't necessarily ask for everything up front. You wait for a moment of agreement in the negotiations, then go back, and Nibble for a little extra.

You might think of the Power Negotiating process as pushing a ball uphill, a large rubber ball that's much bigger than you. You're straining to force it up to the top of the hill. The top of the hill is the moment of first agreement in the negotiations. Once you reach that point, then the ball moves easily down the other side of the hill. This is because people feel good after they have made the initial agreement. They feel a sense of relief that the tension and stress is over. Their minds are working to reinforce the decision that they've just made, and they're more receptive to any additional suggestions you may have.

Always go back at the end to make a second effort on something that you couldn't get them to agree to earlier.

Part 2 , “Look Out for People Nibbling on You, ” will appear on Friday

This article is excerpted in part from Roger Dawson's new book-Secrets of Power Negotiating, published by Career Press and on sale in bookstores everywhere for $24.99.

Get Roger Dawson’s Books

“The Secrets of Power Negotiating” by Roger Dawson
Click the link below
Roger Dawson 1

“The 13 Secrets of Power Performance” By Roger Dawson
Roger Dawson 2
“The Secrets of Power Negotiating for Salespeople”
Click the Link Below
Roger Dawson 3

Working at home can be the first step towards living the lifestyle of your dreams.Let us show you how to take the first step today.
Click Here

Did You Miss These Winning Tips?

"What Your Habits Say About You -- And How to Change Them?

"Don't Lose Money" by Success Guru Brian Tracy

"10 Polite Ways to Say No at Work"

Read the May archives. Scroll up a few inches to see the archives links on the left hand side of the screen.

WANT TO MAKE MORE MONEY? LEARN TO THINK LIKE A MILLIONAIRE

Book review: “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: The Inner Game of Wealth,” by T. Harv Eker

By Danek S. Kaus

It’s true what they say: The rich are different.

But it’s not the homes they live in or the cars they drive that make them different.

It’s the way they think that makes them different. And the way they think makes them rich. That’s the premise of the book, “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind”. Author T. Harv Eker has studied the rich, the people who know how to make money. Tons and tons of money.

According to Eker, we all have a mental financial blueprint, a thermostat, that determines how much money we can make. Say your money making thermostat is set for $50,000. No matter what you do, how hard you work, how many businesses you start, your subconscious mind will find ways to keep you at the level of making that amount of money.

This financial thermostat is determined by our beliefs. According to Eker, people with a millionaire mind have 17 beliefs that are different from people who are poor.

For example, rich people believe that they create their lives. Poor people believe they are the victim of circumstances.

Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus on obstacles.

Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear stop them.

Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play not to lose.

If you find yourself with some beliefs that keep you from making money, take heart. The real purpose of Eker’s book is to show you how to change your beliefs so that you can become a money-making machine.

I highly recommend this book. I’ve read it twice and plan to read it again and again.

“Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” is an easy-to-read small book that can deliver on big promises. Thousands of people have used Eker’s coaching to begin making their own fortunes. Maybe now is the time for you to create your own million dollar mind.

Get this book on Amazon. Click on the link below.
Eker 1

5 Empowering Beliefs
By Danek S. Kaus

We all have beliefs, beliefs about abilities, our health, our chances for success and even beliefs about the nature of the universe.

For centuries we have been taught that our beliefs shape our lives. If this is true, then it is obvious that some beliefs will serve us better than others. Some will lead to success while others will drive you down to into failure.

With that in mind, here are some beliefs that author and success coach Michelle Armstrong suggests can help empower you to create the life you want.

1. Everything happens for a reason. “When we seek out the cause behind everything that happens in our lives, we become more resourceful and instinctive in managing and dealing with everything that occurs,” Armstrong says.

When Armstrong flew from her native Australia to what would be her new home in the Los Angeles area, she spent 14 grueling hours in flight. The hotel had lost her reservation and they wouldn’t have a room for her for several hours. To kill time, someone recommended she visit a restaurant in nearby Hermosa Beach. She accidentally ended up in Redondo Beach. Since she couldn’t find the restaurant, she went into a bar. She sat down at the bar and had a conversation with the man next to her. He later became her husband.

2. You always have infinite choices. “If you’re driving on the freeway and someone cuts you off you have choices. You can blow them a kiss or give them the bird. You can replay the incident over in your head and fester about it for weeks or you could ignore it and forget about it,” Armstrong says.

3. Personal responsibility is power. Armstrong says there are two kinds of people -- those who believe they are responsible for everything in their lives and those believe they have no control over their lives. Those who believe they have no power operate as victims. “They can’t create the results they want because they are not responsible for anything,” Armstrong says. “Those who believe they are responsible have the power to change their lives. Even those who don’t believe but act as if they do, still have the power to create change.”

4. Your unconscious mind holds the key. “If you choose to believe you know everything about yourself, you will never reach your full potential,” Armstrong says. “You need to pay attention to unconscious activity.”

One way to do this is to create a “shadow self,” one who is constantly monitoring what is going on in your life by asking yourself, “What am I feeling in this moment? How am I creating what I am feeling?”

Once you are aware of what you are feeling and how you created that feeling, you must make a conscious effort to change the feeling. For example, if you continually react badly to criticism, you can catch yourself in the moment. Decide how you would like to react instead. You might decide that you need to be treated with respect and then communicate that to the other person instead of getting outraged or depressed.

5. You get what you focus on. As an exercise, look around the room and notice everything that is brown. Do this now. Okay? Now, without looking around the room again, close your eyes and try to remember every green object in the room. Not so easy, huh? Life works this way. “If you focus on poverty, on what you don’t have, that is what you will create,” Armstrong says. “If you focus on abundance, that is what you will create.”

Michelle Armstrong is the author of “Manage Your Mind: Master Your Life.” To learn more about her coaching, visit www.armstrongmethod.com and www.LiveYourAuthenticSelf.com