You will be able to draw your own line between firm negotiation and deception.
A friend tells you how she got a pay rise last year. She told her manager she had an offer from a competitor for 20% more. There was no offer. The manager matched part of it, and she's been pleased with herself ever since. Should you try the same thing?
This lesson is about where firm negotiating ends and deception begins. Everyone draws the line somewhere, and it's much easier to hold it if you've decided where it is before you're under pressure.
There's a difference between keeping something to yourself and saying something untrue. Negotiation depends on the first. It's damaged by the second.
Keeping your reservation point private is normal and expected. Lesson 2.3, Estimate theirs and find the zone of possible agreement, explained why: if the other side learns your walk-away number, the deal lands on it. Nobody expects you to volunteer it, and declining to answer "what's the lowest you'd accept?" is not dishonest. "I'd rather not get into my bottom line, but I'm confident we can find a figure that works" is a truthful answer.
Saying something false about a fact is different. Inventing a competing offer, claiming a quote from another supplier that you never received, or saying the flat has had other viewers when it hasn't, all ask the other side to make decisions based on things that aren't real. That's the line most people recognise once it's put plainly.
Between the two sits a grey zone. "This is about the best I can do" when you could do a little more. "I'm looking at a couple of other options" when you've only casually browsed. People judge these differently. The test that helps most is a simple one: would you be comfortable if the other side later learned exactly what was true? If not, you've probably stepped over your own line.
Your friend's invented offer worked. But consider what she risked. If her manager had said, "That's a great offer, you should take it," she'd have had to either resign for a job that doesn't exist or admit the lie. If the manager had asked to see the offer letter, or mentioned it to someone who knew the competitor's hiring, the same.
Even when a bluff isn't exposed in the moment, it creates a weak spot. You have to remember it, keep the story consistent, and hope it never comes up again. Bluffs that come to light don't just cost you this deal. They make every later claim you make suspect, including the true ones. A manager who once caught you inventing an offer will discount the real one you bring next year.
Honest tools work almost as well, and carry no risk. A real BATNA, improved in lesson 2.4, Strengthen your BATNA before the conversation, gives you genuine confidence. Market data from module 7 gives you a reason. Neither can be exposed, because both are true.
Singapore's professional circles are small. Recruiters move between agencies and remember candidates. Hiring managers have friends at competitors. Property agents talk to each other. Freelancers in the same field share stories about clients, and clients share stories about freelancers.
That means reputations travel between companies and outlast individual deals. The person you misled in a supplier negotiation might be your interviewer at a different company five years later. A reputation for being straight, firm but honest, is worth more than any single concession a lie could win you.
The same small world works in your favour if you're known to be reliable. People give you the benefit of the doubt, share information more readily, and tell others you're good to deal with.
You won't always be the one deciding whether to bluff. Sometimes you'll suspect the other side is doing it. The car salesperson claims another buyer is interested in the same model. The landlord says three people want the flat. The client says another freelancer quoted half your rate.
Don't accuse them. You may be wrong, and an accusation damages the relationship whether you're right or not. Instead, ask for evidence and slow the process down. "That's helpful to know. Could you share the other quote, so I can see what's included?" "If there are other interested tenants, I understand. I'll need until the weekend to decide either way." If the claim is true, nothing is lost. If it isn't, it often quietly disappears.
Most of all, check the claim against your own preparation. Your research tells you what similar flats rent for and what similar work pays. If the claim contradicts that, you have good reason to doubt it, and a real BATNA means you can afford to let the deal go.
The activity asks you to write three rules of your own for what you will and won't do in a negotiation, each with an example, so that the line is drawn before anyone tests it.
Write your own three rules for what you will and will not do in a negotiation, with one example of each.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).