hard to come up with that amount. Unfortunately, no
one is willing to lend me the money, not even my
mother. I have tried various avenues but cannot
come up with the funding. In the end, I can offer you
€23,567, although I can only pay €15,321.37 up
front. I could pay you the remainder over a one-year
period, but that is really the most I can do. I wish you
the best in your decision.Brilliant use of specific numbers, and what an empathy-
building way to say “No” without using the word!
And it worked. Within one hour, the advisor responded
to accept.
Look at this closely: see how the mixture of mirroring
and open-ended questions dragged out the information
about Bruno’s financial problems, and then the “No”
method exploited his desperation? It might not have been a
great idea to use this method if there’d been another buyer,
but with no one else it was a brilliant way to get Bruno to
bid against himself.
KEY LESSONS
Superstar negotiators—real rainmakers—know that a
negotiation is a playing field beneath the words, where
really getting to a good deal involves detecting and
manipulating subtle, nonobvious signals beneath the
surface. It is only by visualizing and modifying these
subsurface issues that you can craft a great deal and make