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Negotiation reference
Background reading is a great way to bolster competence and confidence in negotiation. Below are our top picks...
Getting to Yes: The Secret to Successful Negotiation by Roger Fisher and William Ury
Probably regarded as the single most influential book written on negotiation. The main tenet of the book is to ensure that you focus on win win negotiation - primarily by trying to deal with people's underlying interests rather than positions. They were the people that first coined the acronym BATNA. Our only issue with the book is that it does not really deal with the conflict that is all too frequent in negotiations with big customers. Essential reading for anyone who is serious about negotiation!
Start With No by Jim Camp
This book has, to my mind, been published purely on the back of the success of "Getting to Yes" with the idea of being provocative. Although the book has some merit, it would be quite a long way down my reading list!
Negotiate to close by Gary Karass
Written primarily for sales people, it's easy to read, and although quite simplistic there were some great insights. Particularly useful was the section on how sellers assumptions compared with the reality of the situation.
Spin Selling by Neil Rackham
If you are serious about selling you must read this book. This is one of the best researched insights into sales behaviour, and clearly identifies what makes the best the best and how they go about closing major sales.
How to Negotiate Better Deals by Jeremy Thorn
Although this book appears to be written for people without masses of negotiation experience, I think this is a great all round book. If you are looking for something to give you a grounding in many different aspects of negotiation, this is well worth reading. I would recommend this book irrespective of how experienced you are.
How to Negotiate by Ann Jackman
Draws on the principles from “getting to yes”. Included some interesting suggestions on power – but this was also included in other texts. It suggests an 8 stage process for negotiation – which seem to be overcomplicated for most negotiations. It also draws on the Rackham research and uses a simple conflict model which has some merit. Also states Mehrabian’s work on ways of communicating as a fact - without giving the context. It’s not a bad book – but it appears to have nothing new to add.
Negotiate anywhere – (How to succeed in international markets) by Gavin Kennedy
Kennedy’s books are generally worth reading – and this is no exception. This is a very detailed book on how to negotiate in different countries and is well worth a read if you are about to start negotiating abroad. The other two books worth reading are: Negotiate anything with anyone anywhere in the world by Frank Acuff and Kiss Bow or Shake Hands. Make sure you test any assumptions you make – it’s dangerous to stereotype whole races!
Negotiation basics (Concepts Skills and Exercises) by Ralph Johnson
This is a good book, well written and properly referenced. The one thing I particularly like in the book is the way that Johnson keeps asking you to reflect on situations that you have been in – and to consider positions and exercises. To get much out of the book you need to read it all the way through – you can’t really just dip in and out to review bits of interest.
Getting past No (Negotiating with difficult people) by William Ury
A follow up to “Getting to Yes”. Promises more than it delivers. Sold well but not a “must read” in my view.
Legal Negotiation and Settlement by Gerald Willams
Although this book is primarily based around lawyers, It gives a fantastic insight of how behaving aggressively affects outcomes. Reasonably easy to read, but as it is written by an academic, it’s not for the faint hearted!
Pocket Negotiator by Gavin Kennedy
This is one of the first books I ever read on negotiation and made me a Kennedy fan. It is presented in alphabetical order and is a good book to pick up and put down. The section I found particularly interesting was on force projection – a ploy for altering the other party’s expectations. (He did this from both the buyer and seller perspective)
Negotiating by Patrick Forsyth
Uses a 10 step negotiating model (too complicated) but he does make reference to the generation of a range of variables to avoid polarising the negotiation around one or a couple of issues.
30 minutes to negotiate a better deal by Brian Finch
Bearing in mind this book is supposed to be a quick “heads up”, it tries to cover too many areas (eg body language), and to my mind doesn’t really cover any of them in enough detail.
The complete negotiator by Gerard Nierenberg
Widely respected as one of the definitive texts on negotiation. On page 202 he makes a great (but obvious) point: Many organisations feel that purchasing is merely an administrative function – other people have determined to buy the products and the purchaser’s role is purely perfunctory. This is true in a large number of organisations, and training for these people is usually a “quick win” for most large organisations.
The Perfect Negotiation by Gavin Kennedy
If you’ve only got an hour to read about the principles of negotiation – read this!
Managing Negotiations by Gavin Kennedy
Well worth reading, particularly the section on ploys.
