Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

TJ left messages; no one called back.
A few weeks into the class, TJ rewrote the script. These
weren’t massive changes, and he didn’t offer the fans any
discounts. What he did was add subtle tweaks to make the
call about the fans, their situation, and their love of the team.
Now the team was “YOUR Washington Redskins” and
the purpose of the call was to ensure that the team’s most
valuable fans—the delinquent customers—would be there at
the season opener. “The home-field advantage created by
you each and every Sunday at FedEx Field does not go
unnoticed,” TJ wrote. He then told them, “In these difficult
times, we understand our fans have been hit hard and we are
here to work with you,” and asked the ticket holders to call
back to talk through their “unique situation.”
Though superficially simple, the changes TJ made in the
script had a deep emotional resonance with the delinquent
ticket holders. It mentioned their debt to the team but also
acknowledged the team’s debt to them, and by labeling the
tough economic times, and the stress they were causing, it
diffused the biggest negative dynamic—their delinquency—
and turned the issue into something solvable.
The simple changes masked a complex understanding of
empathy on TJ’s side. With the new script, TJ was able to
set up payment plans with all the ticket holders before the
Giants game. And the CFO’s next visit? Well, it was far less
terse.

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