You will be able to recognise the most common negotiation tactics when they are used.
Daniel's lease negotiation from lesson 4.4 is settled, so he goes car shopping. At a showroom in Ubi, the salesperson is friendly, almost on Daniel's side. "Let me see what I can do for you," he says, and goes into the back office. He comes out ten minutes later looking apologetic. "My manager is very strict. This is really the best he'll allow, and only if you sign today, because the promotion ends tonight."
Daniel has just met three pressure tactics in under a minute. He might not have noticed any of them. This lesson names the tactics you're most likely to meet, so that next time you can see them coming.
Several common tactics work by squeezing the time you have to think.
The exploding deadline is an offer that expires soon: tonight, by Friday, before the end of the month. A promotion might genuinely end, and an employer might really need an answer before going to the next candidate. Just as often the date exists so that you won't compare prices, ask anyone or sleep on it, and the same car tends to be available at a similar price next week.
Take it or leave it presents an offer as final and non-negotiable. "This is our standard rate." "That's the budget." Sometimes it's true. Often it's an opening position wearing the costume of a final one, used to see whether you'll accept without testing it.
The nibble, which lesson 5.4, Close the deal and write it down, introduced, arrives after the deal seems done. "Can you also include delivery?" "Could you throw in the floor mats?" "Could you start a week earlier?" It relies on the fact that, once you've agreed the big things, a small extra feels too minor to resist.
The higher authority is the person who isn't in the room but has to approve. "I'll need to check with my manager." "The owner has the final say." It lets the person in front of you agree in principle and then return with a worse deal and an absent boss to blame for it. That boss may well exist, which is why lesson 3.1, Research the market and the other side, explained why you should find out who decides early on.
Good cop bad cop is a variation. One person is warm and sympathetic, the other tough and unreasonable, so you start treating the friendly one as an ally and make concessions to them that you'd never make to the tough one. Daniel's salesperson and the strict manager in the back office play these roles neatly, whether or not the manager is actually strict.
The flinch is a visible reaction of shock at your number: a sharp intake of breath, a wince, "Wah, that's very high." It's designed to make you doubt your figure and soften it before they've said anything of substance. People who've practised the flinch can make a perfectly reasonable number feel outrageous.
The long silence works the other way. After you've made an offer, the other side says nothing. The pause stretches. Most people find silence uncomfortable and rush to fill it, often with a concession: "but I could go lower if needed." The other side has gained something without saying a word. Lesson 4.3, Open with an ambitious number and a reason, asked you to use silence yourself. Expect it to be used on you too.
Look at all of these together and two patterns appear. Most tactics work either by creating time pressure, or by making you feel unreasonable.
Time pressure stops you from doing the things that protect you. You don't get to look at your preparation worksheet again, compare alternatives, ask someone else or wait until tomorrow. The exploding deadline does this openly, while the nibble catches you when you're tired and keen to finish.
Making you feel unreasonable turns your own good manners into a weapon. The flinch says your number is shocking. The silence says your offer was embarrassing. With the friendly salesperson, refusing starts to feel like letting down a friend, and a skilled counterpart knows how much most of us dislike making a fuss.
Recognising the pattern is most of the defence. A tactic you can name loses much of its force, because you see it for what it is: a move in the game, not a fact about the deal. Lesson 6.2 covers what to say once you've spotted one.
Before then, look back at your own experience. You've almost certainly met some of these already, from a phone shop, a property agent, a recruiter or a market stall. The activity asks you to list which ones, and how you handled them at the time.
List which of these tactics you have met from a seller, employer or landlord, and how you responded at the time.
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