The One Minute Negotiator Simple Steps to Reach Better Agreements

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 approach is strikingly different because it identifies four essential quadrants in which both sides and two additional largely under-recognized strategies fall whenever negotiation takes place: Competition, Collaboration, Avoidance and Accommodation. Furthermore, these negotiation strategies can be defined based on the levels of initiative (proactive/reactive) and cooperation (high/low). This allows for an easy-to-understand and utilize matrix that will reshape readers' views of negotiations. Where The One Minute Negotiator differs from the other two main schools of thought is that it doesn't single-mindedly push one strategy over the others. Rather, we recognize the realities and utilities of all four approaches and teach this fundamental concept: To negotiate successfully, you need to understand your own negotiation strategy and match it to the negotiation strategy used by the other side and to the situation.

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.