Can't Fool You (Anymore) The best tools for mounting your defense against fibbers--and no, we're not talking about a polygraph machine.
By Marc Diener
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As J.P. Morgan once said, "A man always has two reasons forthe things he does--a good one and the real one." Nowhere isthis truer than at the bargaining table. Of course, any attempt tofigure out what's really on your opponent's mind is, atbest, a speculative endeavor. But the following strategies are thenext best thing to having a mind-reader on your negotiatingteam.
Make conversation. Open-ended queries get the other sidetalking-questions that begin with who, what, where, when, how orwhy. Avoid closed-ended questions that your opponent can answerwith a terse yes or no. The best time to ask your questions, ofcourse, is before the other side starts negotiating in earnest. Forexample, early in the interviewing process, one of my prospectiveemployers (foolishly) revealed (at my prompting) how desperate theywere to hire someone with my experience. When we got down totalking numbers, I easily bargained for a much higher salary.
Don't look theother way just because the other side swears it'sso. |
If you do get the other side talking, shut up and listen.Concentrate. Don't interrupt. Use the power of silence. Mostpeople feel so uncomfortable with long pauses in the conversationthat they'll strain to fill them. Talk less, and your opponentmay end up telling you more (about what you really want toknow).
If you want to use a more aggressive tactic, ask your opponentthe same question twice. Listen for any changes the second timearound. A classic private eye ploy is to ask questions to which youknow the answer. You can learn more from the other side's wronganswers than from the right ones. If credibility is at issue,deliberately make a mistake when repeating back some info. If theother side doesn't catch it, you know something's up. Ifyou really need to be confrontational, you can always surprise themwith a blunt, direct question. Listen to the answers they give, butremember that it's their nonverbal reactions that will givethem away. As Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot just bywatching."
Experienced professionals can be a tremendous asset in readingbetween the lines. Savvy brokers, agents, bankers, CPAs andattorneys are already well-versed in the 101 ways you can bebamboozled. When they tell you something doesn't smell right,you should pay attention. As always, good help is invaluable.
Finally, transactional attorneys have a particularly effectivetechnique for smoking out the other side: representation andwarranties. Basically, you make the other side promise (in writing)that the specific facts you are counting on in making the deal aretrue. If their representations later turn out to have been false,they could get nailed for fraud, with numerous unpleasantconsequences. However, don't look the other way just becausethe other side swears it's so. In the real world, theirdishonesty or negligence will become your problem, and yourlead-pipe cinch of a lawsuit may be cold comfort. Even the tightestrepresentation and warranties can't act as a stand-in for duediligence and plain old common sense.
A speaker and attorney in Los Angeles, Marc Diener is the author ofDeal Power.
