Comments on: Effective negotiation strategies: does nice actually work?

By: Overused Negotiation Strategiesh

Overused Negotiation Strategiesh — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:49:03 +0000

[...] evading inappropriate questions, motivation to do the deal, being stubborn, being nice (and another excellent post on the topic by Thicken My Wallet), incentive, meaningless promises, and negotiations within [...]

By: Nurseb911

Nurseb911 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:24:31 +0000

In my business I take the ‘direct’ approach. Nice is great if you’re meeting someone to catch up or with someone you know, but far too often the direct approach (assuming you’re not rude or confrontational) quickens up the process because the other party knows exactly where you stand. I’m not one for holding extra cards and playing games because honestly I don’t have the time. Time to me is too valuable and if someone I’m negotiating with (real estate, business, etc) doesn’t want to conduct business with my first and best offer then I won’t waste my time dickering around….I’ll go find someone else who wants my services or business

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:41:46 +0000

“It becomes a matter of strategic timing on when to use the nice card.”

Even in your own examples and analogy, it seems the most appropriate answer is “always play the nice card”. As Dillon said, it doesn’t cost you anything to be nice to people.
Being nice to the lowest tier of customer service will often net you other benefits. If you are rude to the guy who answers the phone, the manager you are counting on to give you a discount may not do it simply because you were a jerk to one of “his people” even if you are sugary sweet to him personally.

By: Mr. Cheap

Mr. Cheap — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:16:29 +0000

Interesting post (and thanks for the link). I agree that being nice is NOT an automatic way to win concessions, but I’ve found being unpleasant (as you mention) a good way add obstacles. I’ve worked at tech support (low level employee far away from the decision makers) and people who called and were rude to me DEFINITELY got a lower level of service than people who were reasonable and polite.

Even your example of “we are sorry sir, our policy is not to rent under list price.” seems fairly nice to me. They could have said “if you can’t afford our rent then sod off you wanker!”

By: Dillon

Dillon — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:14:59 +0000

“Simply playing it early and often to people who have no real decision making powers is tantamount to going all in at the first round of poker. Most of the time, you end up with very little or nothing in return.”

I don’t think that is a very good analogy. In most cases, there is not cost associated with treating other people nicely, whether or not those people are in a position to benefit you.