Negotiating with Tough Customers

The title may say "Negotiating With Tough CUSTOMERS", but all of us will - at one point or another - encounter a situation where some hard and fast negotiation skills will come in handy. Used/new car owners - I'm looking at you, Craigslist/eBay junkies - you know what I'm talking about...unless you go through life acquiring items from a dumpster, or your friends/family's cast-offs, you will be buying something costlier than dental floss. And while most of us accept the sticker price of an item at face value, "Negotiating With Tough Customers" tells us to toughen up the skin on our faces and ask for "something more" even in the most basic situations. Plopping down a substantial amount of your income with your investment advisor? Why not ask for some free pens in return? Your airline has delayed your flight for days, causing your loved one to miss most of the Christmas holidays with you? Demand a discount on the airfare, but receive a complete refund AND some discount vouchers in return. You'll never know what Pandora Box of freebies await you, when you implement hard-nosed negotiation tactics put forth in this book. However, the title of the book is "Negotiating With Tough Customers" - not "Negotiate With Tough Customers and Be Adored By Them In Return". The author emphasizes throughout the book that these are not win-win, collaborative negotiation strategies, but ones which go for the jugular, maximizing your return in the negotiation. These strategies should only be implemented with tough negotiators, and the author at one point even mentions that the more you value a relationship, the more collaborative - not confrontational - your strategy should be. The book is very straightforward and readable, with a myriad of easy-to-follow charts showing the divide between CUSTOMER and SALESPERSON, their motivations and their strategies/approaches. The tone is casual and often jovial, while the author provides a wealth of anecdotes taken from corporate America, as well as personal interactions. Each step is laid out in a chapter or sub-heading, with an explanation and examples underneath. The author also provides some probing questions which the negotiator should ask during the interview. The author also realizes that most of us loathe to confront people and to hound the other side for more concessions during a negotiation. However, the crux of the book is that we, as a good tough negotiator, should never leave anything on the table. Even a "final offer" is not a final offer, and that when we give a concession, we should ask for something in return. It's obvious from reading the book that the author has been subjected to countless situations in which he confronted a tough negotiation. However, while we can practice the same basic techniques, it takes a tough skin and practice with many unsavory prospects to understand and feel comfortable with the dynamics of a tough negotiation and achieve the same success. However, the book is a great first step and essential to mastering your own tough negotiation.

I have no idea how many negotiation books I've read over the years - my first one was Kathleen Kelley Reardon's book when it first came out in the early 2000s. While I subscribe wholeheartedly to win-win negotiations, there are times that this is not appropriate or where it is not beneficial for you to do. Steve Reilly's book is a refreshing approach to negotiation as it focuses more on distributive negotiations rather than collaborative. I appreciated this book (it's an easy read) as it takes a contrarian approach and that suits me personally. I liked that the framework used was very simple and direct. Having read some books that have... elaborate approaches to developing checklists and offers, having a simple one is good. This same approach will help (in my opinion) with win-win negotiations. I would have liked a few things to be included. For example, more detail on developing a concession plan would have been good - what is in there is a little light. It's still good - just a bit more of a development on that aspect would have been appreciated by me. Tying that in to Igor Ryzov's polygon of interests or Brian Dietmeyer's planning framework in his book on Strategic Negotiation would have been welcome. I would have liked to have seen how concession planning can be better valued and planned, than how Reilly did in this book. Overall though, this is a fantastic addition to your library if you are interested in negotiation as a field or for your work. It's a good simple straightforward approach which will help.

This is an excellent book. While the focus is on especially tough negotiations, Reilly doesn't discount the value of the venerable "win-win" technique; just points out that in many cases, it's much like a canary trying to negotiate with a snake (my analogy, that one); there isn't going to be a "win" for the canary in trying to be nice about things. He offers a number of different scenarios, backed by real-world examples, showing that there are always things that can be put on the table to sweeten a deal for the negotiator and still arrive at the result you want to achieve; something of lesser value to you might be of great value to them; and so you manage to come out ahead. It may sound like "win-win" in a way; but it goes far deeper into the deal, where "win-win" would have concluded long before; and you've got something of far greater value to you, for the effort. Like many things, this sort of negotiation is an acquired skill; and might seem pretty uncomfortable at first. The rewards are there though, and this is a highly readable, enjoyable book, written by someone who has "had his boots on the ground"; and as a teaching tool for negotiation, it leads you through the rough parts and shows how truly easy tough negotiations can be, if you know the techniques and just follow through. This should be standard reading for college business classes dealing with salesmanship.

Clear and concise. Great practical examples that are relatable.

great read