Blog: The Negotiation Edge

As American novelist Kurt Vonnegut wrote, it takes all kinds of people to make up a world.

The Black Swan Group is here to call “bullshit” on compromise—exactly as we did in our book. Here are two reasons why.

Most people can relate to the proverbial “mean boss,” because unfortunately, we’ve all dealt with someone like this during our career. And it’s not exactly inspiring to work for someone who doesn’t value you or your time. 

Are you spending more than you need to on utilities?

Almost certainly, if we’re being honest. Renegotiating your utility bills on a regular basis is a great way to get low-stakes practice of our negotiation skills.

No one in sales wants to waste time ... because they can’t afford to.

The first two keys to effective emails are simple:

Real estate is a tricky business. It’s a grind. Many buyers and sellers have a hard time trusting the real estate agents they work with. Clients can also be fickle. A Realtor might put in countless hours helping someone find their dream house only to find out they ultimately bought directly from a seller or used another agent—leaving the Realtor with nothing to show for their hard work.

In the world of hostage negotiation, it’s critical to be cognizant of the action imperative—pressure from our superiors to resolve an issue and get results quickly.

First things first: Watch this absolutely hilarious Chris Voss TEDx talk on tactical empathy.

In negotiation training, the terms “active communication” and “active listening” get thrown around often. While these two terms share commonalities, they also have major differences.