Customer Reviews

Getting More: How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I studied negotiation with Prof. Diamond as a student at Penn Law. His class is legendary, both at the Law School and Wharton, and it's nearly impossible to get into, at least at the Law School. I got into the class as a 3L, and I was amazed by how well these techniques work. Prof. Diamond encourages his students to use the techniques to go out and haggle with their credit card companies, cell phone carriers, cable companies, and landlords in hopes of getting more from them. By the end of the semester, I most assuredly had gotten more. In fact, when I later called Comcast Cable to try to extend the free six months of HBO and Shotime I'd received while in Prof. Diamond's class, the customer service representative said, "Ok, I'll give you another six months free, but this is the last promotion you're getting. I'm looking at your account, and you have more free promotions than most Comcast employees." (As it turns out, that was not the last freebie Comcast would give me.)

But as time wore on and law school receded into the rearview mirror, I stopped practicing Prof. Diamond's techniques as I had when I took his class. Gradually, my skills faded, although I still brushed them off every now and again when the situation clearly called for them. But I'd stopped contacting my cable company and other service providers to get free goodies, and I slowly forgot just how applicable Prof. Diamond's methods are to nearly every interaction. In short, I started getting less. And then "Getting More" came out.

I realized about a dozen pages into the book that by failing to practice these tools, I was indeed getting less. This book really could not have arrived at a better time for me. And I can confirm that "Getting More" captures the negotiation course's ideas and strategies to a tee. Many of the phrases Prof. Diamond uses in the book - such as "Be incremental," "Think about the pictures in their heads," "Be extreme, or come to me," and "Is it your policy to [insert behavior]?" - appear verbatim in my course notes.

I'm happy to report that after reading Prof. Diamond's book, I am back to getting more. Just last week, I used standards to buy my wife a pair of skis for less than the ski shop had paid for them. The next time I find myself forgetting to use these tools (and hopefully there won't be a next time), I'll re-read "Getting More." In fact, this is one of those rare books that probably should be re-read annually.

The only downside to this book is that I and others had to pay $40,000 a year at Penn Law or Wharton to learn Prof. Diamond's techniques, while "Getting More" costs a mere $13.85. The tools won't work if they're not used, as I learned, and money won't just fall out of the binding when you open the book. But for those who use Prof. Diamond's techniques, the $13.85 investment will come back to them hundreds of times over, or more. "Getting More" is a must-read.

Buy this book! It will change your life. There are few books one reads and thinks, "this book could change the world." This is one of them. It's much different and much better than what passes for human interaction today. I've tried it, and it works fantastically well. Prof. Diamond makes sure you don't get caught up in who's right or wrong, but that you meet your goals in every encounter: whether with kids, in business, in politics or in the store. He's right that the tools are invisible. Until you know them, you can't see them. And he has the credentials to back him up: Pulitzer Prize, Harvard law graduate, Wharton professor and MBA, international adviser, trainer to the world's leading companies. If you read one book in 2011, read this one.

I was lucky enough to have Professor Diamond as a Negotiations professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School. He was a tough teacher because he made us practice his techniques inside and outside of class. But his class has been one of the most valuable ones I've taken in my life.

I rely on the 4 Quadrant exercise to prep for any critical negotiation - and even my mom and brothers have learned to appreciate its effectiveness.

We recently used it to help my husband negotiate his benefits & salary at his new job.

Getting More provides the reader with real life scenarios that we can all identify with in our own daily lives. From business to shopping to travel, the book provides guidance on how to get more without crushing or taking advantage of the person on the other side of the counter or trade. As a company, we used this book as a teaching tool for our entire management team, and 100% have reported improved interactions with customers, vendors and in their own personal lives. Absolutely worth every penny, and absolutely something that you can practice and use your entire life.

This book, if you read and apply it, will literally change your life. I had the pleasure of taking professor Diamond's negotiations course (which this book is based upon) at the Wharton Business School about 10 years ago. He quickly made me realize that every interaction -- with a spouse, child, business associate or store clerk -- contains some aspects of negotiation and with better skills all of those interactions and relationships could lead to more rewarding outcomes. Skilled negotiation benefits both parties and is critical to achieve one's goals in life whether it be to advance a career, raise a happy, well adjusted child, abolish world hunger, or get along with in-laws. I read through the first 10 or so pages recently as they were previewed on the internet and quickly realized that professor Diamond has captured the essence of his award winning Wharton negotiations course in this book. He provides tangible tools, techniques, and concepts to help people rapidly become better at this critical skill. If you have time to read only one book choose this one. If you don't have time make it and it will provide rewards 100 fold. What I learned in professor Diamond's course at Wharton alone was worth the whole cost of my Wharton education. Read and apply what you learn in this book and it will dramatically improve your life!

Love the book! Prof. Diamond's wisdom and insight will bring about a lot of positive change to the way you communicate and interact with people.

"Getting More: How to Negotiate to Achieve Your Goals in the Real World: by Stuart Diamond presents his "12 invisible strategies that change everything you thought you knew about negotiating." Diamond, who is an internationally recognized negotiation expert and award-winning professor of the famed negotiation course at Wharton Business School, has written one of the most practical and enjoyable negotiation books I've read in a long time. I really like this book. I like it so much that I used a copy as a give-a-way when I spoke on black belt strategies to break impasse at the Northwest Dispute Resolution Conference in Seattle, WA, earlier this month. If you are looking to "get more" from your negotiations, this is a book to read, learn from, and implement the strategies into your every day dealings.

This is not jus a simple little book with a few "rules" or "guidelines," but rather a dense text of nearly four hundred pages of concrete strategies and real life examples of how the strategies have been used by numerous students of Diamond's classes. But before you get scared away by my calling this book a dense text of nearly 400 pages, be assured that it is easy and enjoyable to read. Additionally, it is very practical. That's one of the things I liked the most about this book. It isn't a college text book of theory, but rather a book of common sense and practical advice on negotiating in numerous every day situations. If one could criticize the book at all, it would be that some of the strategies seem simple and are common sense. So why don't people use them more? I don't know, but read this book, use them, and get more. Seriously, you will. You'll also find you get along better with people and just might enjoy your interactions with others more too.

The book doesn't just present a bunch of negotiation "tricks." It provides sounds advice on communicating with others to help you get what you want, or at least more of what you want. It really is a book on interacting with others, which essentially is what negotiation is. We are always negotiating, the difference is if we do it well or not. This book will help you do it well. And not only will you get more, but when achieving your goals, you will help others too. The chapters on standards and trading things of unequal value are excellent. The examples throughout the book make the lessons real, and illustrate how they can be done.

I've been teaching and writing about negotiation and mediation for a long time, and I learned a lot from this book. It has changed some of the things I teach. I encourage anyone who wants to improve their interactions with others and "get more" to read this book.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of a regular column on negotiation for The Montana Lawyer.

I am a former student of Prof Diamond from the Wharton school where he teaches the immensely popular negotiations course. I took his class and was very impressed with his real world approach. I have personally tried his tools and they work!

I read this book cover to cover and must say that Prof Diamond has done an excellent job of distilling his teachings in an easy to read narrative. He has made up for absence of classroom exercises by incorporating a lot of anecdotes to bring his points home. Some of his advice is commonsense and some of it is counter-intuitive but it is highly effective.

A must read.

I took Prof. Diamond's class at Wharton and this book is absolutely the same material. Diamond is the most popular negotiations professor because students recognize that his material is unique and immediately applicable.

I am not normally attracted to books that promise to teach me how to hold my own with the devil. But this negotiation manual actually gives a lot of good instruction on how to handle the most bedeviling situations with people such as bosses, significant others, savage siblings, and even Republicans (as you can guess, I am a Democrat). I wish I had this book a few missed pay raises, promotions and job opportunities ago. But better late than never, especially when you're a forced retiree bargaining for a settlement with a credit card company or a reduced cable company bill. Diamond taught me how to swim with sharks without having to become one. A book filled with that kind of advice has got to be worth $25--unless, of course, you can find it on sale or talk the store into selling you the book at a discount, both options ones I'm sure an author like this who has his reader's best interests at heart would applaud.