University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
A Winner’s Guide to Negotiating
Book

A Winner’s Guide to Negotiating

How Conversation Gets Deals Done

Molly Fletcher
McGraw-Hill, 2014
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Editorial Rating

8

Recommendation

Molly Fletcher knows how to get what she wants. She outlines the negotiation system she developed over a two-decade career as a professional sports agent and draws some of her examples from the world of sports. Her approach to getting your way in five major negotiating steps – prepare, “find common ground,” “ask confidently,” use pauses effectively and “know when to leave” – requires self-assurance. She describes how she persuades strangers to change seats with her family on airplanes and how she gets the Ritz to offer her free wine. However, when asking for free wine, the worst outcome is not getting any. When you’re negotiating for your dream job, however, risk taking requires guts because you have something to lose. Even if you don’t share Fletcher’s confidence, her system describes generally effective tactics and goals, so getAbstract recommends her method to anyone who has to build the skills to negotiate successfully.

Summary

A great negotiator “sets the stage,” “finds common ground,” “asks with confidence,” “embraces the pause” and “knows when to leave.”

Effective negotiation is a conversation – a relationship that takes time to build. Study the other side’s decision makers to understand their fears and desires, and the limits of what they will or will not do. Each stage of a negotiation tests the relationship between negotiators. Regardless of your past experience, your ability to negotiate depends on establishing trust slowly and intentionally. Be aware that trust can break easily. If you must negotiate with someone you don’t trust, document your discussions, stick to the facts, and be “curious and empathetic.”

Negotiation is an art with the components of a science. The best negotiators gather as much data as possible, but also use intuition and instinct. Your ability to negotiate depends on how well you undertake the following five steps. Throughout, try to build trust, which is the core of each step.

Before entering a negotiation, do your homework.

Doing your homework and learning the basic facts are half the battle in a successful negotiation. Many...

About the Author

Speaker and consultant Molly Fletcher spent two decades as a sports agent and wrote The Business of Being the Best.

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