82 How to Become a Better Negotiator

the money. Your best defense against such people is to know the
ploys they’ll use and how to counteract them.

The Hardball Bargainer

Hardball bargainers take an unreasonable opening position,
hoping to force you to lower your expectations. An unprepared
negotiator will panic and make early concessions. If you are pre-
pared—you know your best alternative to negotiating and your re-
serve price—you will be less easily intimidated.
When faced with an extreme demand, restate it in your own
words in terms more acceptable to you. Don’t counter with your
own list of unreasonable demands. You should, however, ask for
more than you expect. This will give you some negotiating room. If
you start off with a bottom offer, you’ll have no more room to ma-
neuver. How much more should you ask for? Try bracketing. If you
want to pay no more than $75,000 for a piece of production equip-
ment and the seller asks for $80,000, try offering $70,000. Leave
room for negotiating a win-win agreement.
If the other side is annoyingly overbearing, unyielding, and
clearly trying to take advantage of you, give that person a quizzical
look, as if to say (but without stating it), ‘‘Are we dealing with a
fool?’’ Then firmly but politely say something like this: ‘‘We have
no interest in that arrangement. Is that your offer?’’ The other side
must either then begin acting reasonable or risk losing the whole
deal.

Take It or Leave It
One tactic designed to undercut your feeling of power and to lower
your expectations is the ‘‘take it or leave it’’ ploy. In this case, re-
state your position and its benefits to the other side. Let the other
side know that their offer is unworkable and unacceptable as it
stands—and that you will leave it. As a means of self-encourage-
ment, remind yourself that the other side has an interest in making
a deal. Why else would they be talking to you? Your ‘‘leaving it’’ will

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