Negotiation Tactic #6 – Sharing Both Pros & Cons

Summary: Promoting full disclosure by informing a counterpart of both the positive and negative aspects of a proposal.

This tactic is wonderful for promoting full disclosure in a negotiation, and it helps build stronger bonds of trust between counterparts. When you use this tactic, you communicate to your counterpart both the benefits and the possible downsides of a proposal. This tactic is very powerful because you gain points for being honest when it costs you something to do so. Providing the cons usually costs you something.

Example

A person is selling a beautiful home with a large yard. When a prospective buyer walks through the home, the seller tells the buyer, “This home has a gorgeous view, a beautiful yard, a great school district, and fantastic neighbors. It also comes with a water bill of four hundred dollars per month to support the beautiful yard. I think the water bill was my only surprise when I moved in seven years ago.”

Counter

The only necessary counter in this situation is for the buyer to do her own research to verify both the pros and cons provided by the seller. When one party in a negotiation utilizes this tactic, the counterpart may have a tendency to trust the information provided and not feel the need to verify it. In negotiations of significance, everything should be verified.

Have you used or encountered this tactic in your negotiations? If so, how’d it go?

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