BOOK REVIEW: YOU CAN NEGOTIATE ANYTHING

Hello people.

I remember the first job interview I attended. I went for the interview filled with high hopes that I would be paid a mouth watering salary [or at least a good one]. After going through the motions of the interview, I was informed [and yes; you read right. I was not asked, but informed] that I would be receiving an amount that had never featured even in my worst nightmare. I was dumbfounded. To cut a long story short, I took the job anyway but left three months later for a better paying one.

One would have thought that I would have learned my lesson from the first interview; at least I thought I had. I was proven wrong. Sometime afterwards I attended another interview, this time with the determination that it was going to be ‘my pay or no way’. Again, the interviewers and I went through the motions and then the big question came: ‘How much are you asking for?’ I am ashamed to say that I shot myself in the foot on this one. Feeling intimidated by the interview panel, I found my lips mentioning an amount that my legs were mentally kicking me for. The interviewers stared at me for some seconds, and then one asked me if I wouldn’t take an amount that was a thousand naira less than what I had asked for. By this time my worst fears were confirmed: I had just made a big mistake that I would live with for months afterwards.

I am glad to say that the story ends happily, however. Sometime later, I read [and studied] the book ‘You Can Negotiate Anything’ by Herb Cohen. I gained a lot of insights about the psychology of negotiation from the book, and the next time I went for an interview I made sure I prepared, not just for the interview itself but also for the question, ‘How much do you want?’.  When the question was finally asked, I looked the interviewers eyeball to eyeball and mentioned a nice sum of money. They looked at me like I was insane and after going through the motions of haggling, with yours truly refusing to back down, one of the men commented; ‘You must be a really tough person’. I smiled and thought to myself: ‘if only you knew what I’ve been through’.

You Can Negotiate Anything is a book written by Herb Cohen and published by Bantam Books. In the book, Herb postulates that life is a giant negotiating table and we all are negotiating at every point in time - whether we realize it or not. Herb also points out that negotiations are not limited to salary increase. It also includes other instances such as a tenant negotiating rent with a landlord, wives negotiating with their husbands,  negotiations with a car dealer or a store clerk, etc.

Herb describes three elements that are crucial in any negotiation viz:

·        Information. In any negotiation, information is power. To be successful in your negotiation, divulge as little information of your real needs as possible to the other party, but try to find out the other party’s real needs. For example, when attending a job interview, never reveal to the interviewer that you desperately need a job. Doing so gives the interviewer important information about you that eventually serves to reduce your bargaining power.

·        Time: Never reveal your real deadline to the other party. If, for instance, you wish to buy a refrigerator, do not say to the salesman, ‘I need this fridge urgently because my fridge at home is leaking’. Saying so reveals your deadline to the man, and be rest assured that you will not get a good bargain on the sale.

·        Power: All power is based on perception, and as a negotiator you’ve got more power sources at your fingertips than you may realize. To increase your bargaining power in a negotiation, employ different power sources such as the power of competition, legitimacy, risk-taking, commitment, etc.

Herb submits that negotiation involves analyzing information, time and power to affect behaviour and meet needs, and one’s knowledge [or lack of knowledge] of how these variables work will determine the success or otherwise of a negotiation. Filled with humorous illustrations of successful and unsuccessful negotiations that readers can easily understand and even identify with, 'You Can Negotiate Anything' is a classic book that every ardent reader needs to have in their bookshelf. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Herb Cohen is an American consultant on negotiations. He has consulted for the American government as well as corporate organizations.  He has been called the world’s best Negotiator and in 1995, the audiotape ‘You Can Negotiate Anything’ was said to be the 5^th best selling tape of all time by Publisher’s Weekly.