Synopses & Reviews
The One Minute Negotiator uses an engaging business parable to tell the story of a high-level sales professional who learns the value of understanding and executing a simple yet profound approach to negotiations – an approach that can be applied to getting the best loaner car while your cars in the shop, seeking a fair solution after a hotel messes up your reservation, closing a deal to get your product in a big-box retail store, or settling on the price for your new home. There are two primary schools of thought when it comes to negotiation skills. One essentially comes from the Harvard Business School camp, and it’s perhaps best described as “Thou Shalt Collaborate.” This approach teaches that negotiating parties should always work together toward common interests. The other school of thought, mostly pushed by author/consultant Roger Dawson, takes an opposite approach. Call it “Thou Shalt Compete,” this approach is always overtly or subtly adversarial. The One Minute Negotiator differs in that it doesn’t single-mindedly push one strategy over the other—in the real world every negotiation differs depending on the participants and the circumstances. The authors provide an easy-to-use tool that allows you to understand your own negotiation strategy and quickly match it to the negotiation strategy used by the other side and to the situation. Too many people lose out in negotiations because of apprehension and misunderstanding about the process—what the authors call “negotiaphobia”. By providing a simple, straightforward process anyone can use The One Minute Negotiator to help conquer their fears and achieve the most beneficial outcome in all their dealings.
Synopsis
Negotiation impacts every aspect of our lives, from the deals we strike on the job, to our relationships with family members and neighbors, to the transactions we make as customers. Yet most people do anything they can to avoid negotiating--it makes them uncomfortable, nervous, even frightened. This plague of negotiaphobia is what Don Hutson and George Lucas are here to remedy.
Hutson and Lucas tell the tale of Jay Baxter, who sells more than anyone else in his company but finds himself in trouble because his profit margins are so slim--he's giving too much away to close the deal. Enter the One Minute Negotiator, who teaches him a three-step negotiating process that not only helps him make more profit per sale but can be applied anywhere, on the job or off.
The key to the process is flexibility. Most books on negotiation preach one of two gospels: thou shalt collaborate or thou shalt compete. But no two negotiations are alike--one strategy cannot fit all. The One Minute Negotiator teaches you four viable strategies and shows how to choose the one best suited to the situation, your own inclinations, and the strategy being used by the other side.
Besides the obvious benefits, conquering negotiaphobia will reduce your stress level. You'll never walk away thinking about what you should have asked for or might have gotten. Instead, with the tools Hutson and Lucas provide, you can confidently and consistently guide any negotiation to the best possible conclusion.
About the Author
Don Hutson, the Chairman and CEO of U.S. Learning and the Chairman of the Board of Executive Books, is an accomplished corporate speaker and trainer who works primarily with Fortune 1000 Companies. Don is the author of nine books, including The Sale and the New York Times No. 1 bestseller, The One Minute Entrepreneur, which he co-authored with Dr. Ken Blanchard. The Sale sold more than 75,000 copies, while The One Minute Entrepreneur has sold more than 125,000 copies and is schedule for a re-release this summer.
George H. Lucas, Ph.D., is a senior consultant and member of the board of directors for U.S. Learning, and has been a resource to organizations as a speaker, trainer, consultant, and field coach for more than twenty-five years. He regularly works with clients in North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, Latin America, Australia, and Africa. George is author or co-author of several successful textbooks, and a co-author (with Don Hutson and Chris Crouch) of The Contented Achiever. He also co-authored, with Terri Murphy, a widely utilized CD-based learning resource: Negotiation -- What You Don’t Know Can Cost You.