From the course: Management: Top Tips

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Going beyond splitting the difference

Going beyond splitting the difference

From the course: Management: Top Tips

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Going beyond splitting the difference

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- Now, when you're coming to the end of the negotiation, you're nearly there, let's say you're buying and you're offering a bit more than you wanted to offer, but you're still within your range, they've come down a bit in price, you're so nearly there, something that may happen is they may suggest splitting the difference. So, let's suppose I'm up to 92 pounds and they've come down to, say, all the way down to 96 and suppose they say, split the difference, 94, what should I say? And the answer is, I should say no. I should say no, I just can't. I can't go beyond 92, I'm afraid and they will then say, oh, alright then and they'll agree to it. And there's no such thing as a definite rule in negotiating, there's always uncertainty about the other person's position, but this is as near as you can get to a rule, actually because when somebody says split the difference at 94, what they're really saying is, I've given up now. I'm just trying one more time to get a little bit more off you…

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