Be Wary of Word Games
Listen close when negotiating with the other side.
When negotiating a deal, don't let yourself get caught up inthe other side's tricky talk. Here are some examples of what towatch out for:
- Unidentified sources: If your opponent can'tidentify the source, ignore it.
- Citing authority: Investigate their backgrounds andremember, you can always find an equal and opposite authority.
- Analogies: They don't prove a thing, so challengethem or counter with your own.
- Overgeneralizations: Make sure your opponent isn'tusing one isolated fact to support a sweeping conclusion.
- Unidentified terms and fuzzy language: Pin down thosewords that can be interpreted however the other side wants to, andget them to commit.
- Ad hominem arguments: Don't let them get you down.Such personal attacks should only alert you to your opponent'slack of solid, rational arguments.
- Funny money: Watch out for repetitive charges and smallincrements that can multiply over the entire deal.
- Profit definitions: Calculating the actual numbers cantake on surprising new meanings once the cold, hard facts areidentified.
Excerpted from Entrepreneur magazine, July2001
