The Art of Negotiating ... with anyone©  


This two-day, fast-paced, highly interactive workshop has been offered continuously since 1974 to a combined audience of over 350,000 people from all walks of life on campuses, in board rooms and in conference halls across North America. It is internationally acclaimed for its practical wisdom and savvy, street-smarts insights on how to consistently achieving win-win outcomes, regardless of the bargaining arena.

Your ability to negotiate will determine your business and personal success. Whether you like it or not, you are a negotiator. Buying, selling, hiring, firing, handling customer disputes, persuading superiors, motivating subordinates. . . from parent-child and spousal relations, negotiating is always going on.  Whenever you seek to satisfy personal or company needs, exchange ideas, change attitudes or relationships, influence decisions or reach an agreement, you are negotiating.

Negotiating is a skill that can be learned.  Despite that, most North Americans are lousy negotiators. While it may also be the least understood form of human communication, negotiating is a skill, an attitude and an approach to life that can determine your prosperity and the quality of your life as well as the lives of the important people on whom you count for your happiness.

The premise behind this practical two-day workshop is that your negotiating style will become more effective when you know how to create solutions in which both sides win. Successful negotiation depends on co-operative problem solving. And winning negotiators know how to achieve this bargaining posture consistently. This workshop covers the following topics:

  • The conceptual framework for achieving Win-Win outcomes:  The Negotiating Jig-Saw Puzzle. Why we negotiate. Content v.s. process. The 80/80 success formula: how to win consistently. Needs vs. numbers: what negotiators really want. Information: disguise and discovery.
  • Tactic recognition and response:  Behavioural patterns and negotiating styles. The negotiating spectrum. Gradient stress: getting people to see it your way. Classic stress tactics. Opening demands and bargaining posture. Tactic identification and counters. Emotional ploys.  Objectivity.  When W/L works. The essence of W/W negotiating. Understanding the consequences.
  • The negotiating process simplified:  Stages, key ingredients and rituals. Preparation: what to do. Setting objectives.  How to open: social amenities and agenda setting. Recognizing signals. Overcoming resistance. Bargaining nuances. Closing and agreement.
  • Principles of negotiating leverage:  Time and timing: event vs. process, deadlines, acceptance time. When to say “no”. Power: rational presence and psychological influence. The power equation. Sources of power. How to increase/decrease your power.
  • Human behaviour and the psychology of conflict: Perception-reaction dynamic.  Negative and positive interaction cycles.  Functions and dysfunctions of conflict. Perceptual barriers. Ego defense. Masking and role playing. Signs of escalating conflict. Engineering a negotiating climate conducive to your objectives.
  • Essential communication skills: The importance of questioning. Phrasing to induce perceptions.  Listening for critical information: 90:10 rules. The power of non-directive responses. Translation and alignment.  Reflection and deflection. The language of hidden meanings. Understanding non-verbal cues. Lie detection. Altering communication ratios.
  • Strategy and tactics: Creativity: how to change the shape of the deal. Price vs. Terms.  Negotiating the future. Problem-solving mode. Determining appropriate strategic responses. Essentials of good strategy.  Negotiating success & failure. Attributes of winning negotiators. The conceptual framework summarized.