InsuranceNewsNet Magazine December 2011 : 13
Power NEGOTIATING WITH POWER | FEATURE NEGOTIATING WITH HOW TO WIN A NEGOTIATION AND STILL LOOK LIKE ‘THE NICE GUY’ FELDMAN: Negotiating is a part of everyone’s life, whether you’re at home or in front of a client. What are some tips to become what you call a power negotiator? DAWSON: “Power negotiating” is dif-ferent from “win-win negotiating” that everybody talks about. Win-win nego-tiators are suggesting that there is a third solution out there that nobody’s thought of yet. Win-win negotiators always talk about the two people who have an orange and they both want it. They finally conclude they can’t both have it, so they decide to cut it in half. To be sure that it’s fair, one will cut and the other one will choose. While they’re doing this, they start asking each other what they want the orange for. And what do you know? One of them just wants the orange’s juice, and the other one just wants its rind because they’re baking a cake and that’s all they need for it. So here you have this magi-cal third solution that neither party has thought of before. Sure, I guess that could happen when you’re marketing insurance or annuity products. But I think it’s much more likely that you’re sitting across the table from someone who wants the most pos-sible value for the least amount of money, while you want to make it as profitable as possible. So, there’s not going to be that win-win solution. Power negotiating suggests that you can make the other person genuinely feel that they’ve won in the negotiation, but still get whatever you want out of it. Two salespeople may go out to nego-tiate a contract in insurance, and they both come away with exactly the same results. But the poor negotiator comes away with the other side feeling that they lost. The power negotiator comes away with the other side feeling that they won. FELDMAN: How can you make the other side feel that they’ve won? DAWSON: With negotiating tactics. Rule No.1, for example, is never say “yes” to the first proposal, however good it looks. Let’s say that you’re thinking of buying a second car and people down the street have one they are selling for $10,000. It’s a terrific value; there’s not a thing wrong with the price. You can’t wait to get down there and snap it up before somebody else beats you to it. But on the way down there, you start thinking to yourself, “Hmm, I’ll be a good negotiator. Just to see what hap-pens, I’ll make them a super-low offer. I’ll offer them $8,000 for the car.” Now, I know I’m not going to get it for that, but maybe we’ll end up splitting the differ-ence—it’ll be an even better buy. So you sit down with the husband and wife that own the automobile. You present your $8,000 offer. You’re waiting for them to explode with rage at such a low offer. What actually happens is one looks at the other and says, “Well, what do you think, dear?” And the other one says, “Oh, let’s go ahead and sell it and get rid of it.” What is your first reaction? Are you sitting there thinking, “Wow, I am such a terrific negotiator. I could not have got it for a penny less.” No, I think you’re prob-ably thinking, “I could’ve done better.” And the interesting thing about that is that it has nothing to do with the price; it only has to do with the way the peo-ple reacted. If you’d gone in at $7,000 or $6,000 or $5,000, and they said, “Sure, we’ll take that,” wouldn’t you still think you could’ve done better? It has noth-ing to do with the price. It only has to do with the way they reacted to the proposal. The second reaction people would have is “If they’re willing to accept a proposal that I didn’t think they would, something’s got to be wrong with the car.” And those same two thoughts will go through anybody’s mind any time you say “OK” to the first suggestion. FELDMAN: What’s Rule No.2 in Power Negotiating? DAWSON: Ask for more than you expect to get in a negotiation. Henry Kissinger, who was Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State, opened up China and changed the whole world doing that. He said, “Effectiveness at the bargaining table depends on your ability to over-state your initial demands.” Now, that’s kind of interesting. That’s one of the top international negotiators of last century saying, “Look, I’ll tell you up front: if you’re going to negotiate with me, I’m going to ask for more than you will give me.” But even though you know that, it’s still a very good negotiating principle to follow. FELDMAN: How does that apply to insurance producers? DAWSON: I’ve spoken to many, many insurance groups over the years. I’ve December 2011 InsuranceNewsNet Magazine 13
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