You will be able to neutralise an extreme first offer and redirect to objective criteria.
Daniel rents a two-bedroom condo unit in Clementi for S$3,000 a month. Two months before the lease ends, the landlord's agent messages him: the owner wants S$3,600 for the renewal. Daniel has looked at listings, and similar units nearby are going for about S$3,150. His first instinct is to reply, "How about S$3,300?" It feels fair, halfway between where they are.
It isn't fair, and this lesson explains why. All figures are examples.
Look at what "halfway" means here. S$3,300 is the midpoint of S$3,000 and S$3,600. It's also S$150 a month above the market rate Daniel found, which is S$1,800 a year more than a typical tenant in his position would pay. The extreme number didn't need to be accepted to work. It only needed to be treated as one end of the range.
That's the trap of countering an extreme anchor directly. Lesson 4.1, How the first number pulls everything toward it, showed how a starting number shapes the discussion. When you reply with a counter-offer, you accept the other side's number as a legitimate starting point, and the conversation then happens between your number and theirs. If theirs was unreasonable, the middle is unreasonable too.
So the first move is not a counter. It's to take their number out of the frame.
You do this by calmly saying that the number doesn't match the evidence, and then turning to the evidence. No outrage, no lecture, just a plain observation.
Daniel's reply to the agent: "Thanks for letting me know. S$3,600 is well above what I'm seeing for similar units nearby, which are listed at around S$3,150. Could you tell me how the owner arrived at that figure?"
This does three things. It tells the agent the number hasn't landed. It puts objective criteria, the kind from lesson 1.3, Separate the people from the problem, back in the centre. And it asks a question, which might reveal an interest: perhaps the owner's mortgage payment has gone up, or perhaps he's simply seen one listing at S$3,600 and assumed that's the market.
Notice what Daniel didn't say. He didn't call the figure ridiculous, and he didn't accuse the owner of being greedy. The aim is to move the number, not to win an argument about the person.
Once the extreme number has been named, put your own on the table, with its reason, and treat it as the place to negotiate from.
Daniel follows up after hearing the agent's answer: "Based on the listings, I'd propose renewing at S$3,050 for two years. I've paid on time throughout and the owner wouldn't have any empty months or agent costs for a new tenant."
His opening of S$3,050 sits below the market figure of S$3,150, leaving room to concede towards his target, as lesson 4.3, Open with an ambitious number and a reason, described. He'll negotiate up from S$3,050 if he has to, not down from S$3,600. If the final figure ends up at S$3,150, it's the market rate, not a midpoint of an inflated ask.
The same approach works for an extreme lowball. If a client says your S$6,000 retainer should be S$2,500, don't reply with S$4,250. Say that S$2,500 is far below what similar work costs, explain the basis of your figure, and offer options, such as fewer videos, at a lower price.
Sometimes the other side keeps repeating the extreme number. The agent replies, "The owner is firm on S$3,600." At this point, Daniel has a few calm options.
He can ask what's behind the firmness, using the questions from lesson 1.2. He can say he'll need some time to consider, and come back in a few days. Or, if the owner truly won't move and the gap to the market is large, he can fall back on his BATNA: other units at S$3,150 are available, and moving, though annoying, might cost less than S$1,800 a year in extra rent.
Taking a break is more useful than it sounds. A day or two away from a number loosens its hold on everyone, including the person who said it. Owners who opened high often come back with a more realistic figure once they've checked the listings themselves, or once the prospect of an empty unit becomes real.
What Daniel shouldn't do is negotiate himself towards the midpoint just to end the discomfort. The activity asks you to prepare your own short response to an extreme opening, so that the words are ready if you ever hear one.
Write how you would respond to an extreme opening from the other side in your negotiation, in no more than three sentences.
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