這些規則適用於交涉比賽的任何類型，它是否是multimillion磅成交，買汽車或房子-同樣規則申請。

美妙的事關於這些良好行為準則是甚而一個不熟練的談判員罐頭，不僅是球員結束夜，而且使用這三良好行為準則贏取出色; 他們是交涉比賽的ABC。

1) 目標大
2) 耐心
3) 承認小

我們談論交涉比賽的三良好行為準則。

1) 目標大

這是志向領土。

阿諾德一次說的Toynbee ：

「它是似是而非的，但是深刻地很可能方式到達目標是瞄準不那個目標生活的真實和重要原則，但在有些雄心勃勃的目標在它之外」。

我妻子和我最近參觀了一家古董店，并且我們想像在清新的環境的一張偉大的看起來的維多利亞女王時代的咖啡桌。

價牌是£499，并且我的妻子急切買它; 推銷員在價格注意了她的「附件」對桌和不會自然地移動。

禮貌地，我對他說，我非常由情況困窘，并且我有在我的所有口袋不是£90磅和信用卡。 The sales man was shocked but appreciated my “openness” with him and said, “you couldn’t make it £200 pounds (notice the concession he made).

I took my wife aside and pretended to ask her if she has any money on her; while of course, she knew what I was doing.

We went back to the salesman and I said that my wife has another £20 on her and offered him all what we have which was £110 in total. To my pleasant surprise he accepted while my wife was pleasantly in shock.

Obviously I can give you hundreds of examples on Aiming big golden rule alone, but I hope you got the point.

Poor negotiators are shy to ask or to aspire for stunning results for fear of failure. Remember you can always ask and the worst that could happen is that you get a NO, but more often than not the other party will want to continue if he saw that you are “genuine” and “polite”.

Try this rule when you buy a new car.

First decide which car, study the price, determine how much you will pay (planning) and then, take the money in cash with you on the last day of the month and show it to the sales man “humbly” explaining that this is all you have for this beautiful car; Just don’t tell him how desperate you are for the car!

Just make sure that what you are paying him is around 30% less than the asking price (to start). I promise you, you will get the car you dreamt off all this time and at a great price.

In most negotiations big concessions happen in the last few hours regardless of how long the negotiation has taken.

The more you bring the salesman or the buyer to his deadline without you conceding too much (The next golden rule) the more concessions will be given at the end.

Being patient till the end is what differentiates the boys from the men and the girls from the women.

Top negotiators with no exceptions are patient, they play on the changing circumstances that will favour them in the end. This is one of Nature’s most sacred laws… things will change.

A Chinese proverb may be helpful here “if you wait patiently by the side of the river, the corpse of your enemy will pass you by”.

3) Concede small

The concession pattern tells a “patient” negotiator so much about his opponent’s situation and negotiation style.

The salesman in the antique shop went from £499 to £200 in one go; he reduced the price by 60% in the first go. Is there more concessions to come? You may ask… of course there is.

What about the sales man situation? You could safely assume that the item in question couldn’t have cost him more than third of what he is asking now and that my £90 offer was still making him little profit or he wouldn’t have continued the negotiation.

A reasonable return for him would in this case be 50% and hence my £110 offer was what he would be comfortable with albeit not a great deal for him.
If the sales man said from the outset that he couldn’t go less than £400 which is a reduction of 20% as the first concession, how much you think I could have settled this for?

The answer would be around £190. Why? Going by the “third of the asking price - cost rule” for his industry, the table would have cost him about £130, adding 50% makes around £190 pounds.

Final word about his "opening Gambit"; £499 was his aspiration in the first place and it is important that such a demand should be ignored by the negotiator and hence the initial "politeness" and "humbleness" that one should show to find the true aspiration of the seller.