Secrets of Power Negotiating

Chapter 16Ending Negotiating Gambits: How to Taper Concessions

In extended negotiations over price, be careful that you don’t set up a pattern in the way that you make concessions. Let’s say that you’re selling a used car and you’ve gone into the negotiation with a price of $15,000, but you would go as low as $14,000. So, you have a negotiating range of $1,000.

The way in which you give away that $1,000 is very critical. There are several mistakes that you should avoid:

Equal-sized concessions. This means giving away your $1,000 negotiating range in four increments of $250. Imagine what the other person’s thinking if you do that. She doesn’t know how far she can push you, all she knows is that every time she pushes, she gets another $250. So, ...