Negotiate to Win: The 21 Rules for Successful Negotiating [Hardcover]

Jim Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2005

Discover the Power
Of Better Negotiating

Negotiation is one skill everyone needs in order to get more of what they want -- to sell more, to keep costs down, to manage better, to strengthen relationships -- to win! Thomas shows you exactly how the best negotiators reach long-lasting positive solutions that build profits, performance, and relationships.

This indispensable guide covers all you'll ever need to know about negotiating, including:

• The 21 rules of successful negotiating -- and how to defend against them!
• "Quickies" -- specific tips on how to successfully negotiate with bosses, children, car dealers, contractors, auto mechanics, and many others
• Why Americans are among the worst negotiators on Earth
• How to overcome your natural reluctance to bargain
• Why win-win negotiating is so vital
• How to thoroughly prepare for your negotiations
• How to deal with counterparts who intimidate or harass you
• How to negotiate ethically -- and deal with those who don't
• How to negotiate more successfully across cultural lines
• Thomas's Truisms -- 50 memorable negotiating maxims
• The psychology of negotiating, historical illustrations, day-to-day applications, and much, much more!

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Americans as a whole are really bad at negotiating. We find haggling to be beneath us and we're uncomfortable with it, yet we feel cheated when we don't get the best deal possible. World-class negotiator, author, and attorney Thomas takes his cues from cultures where negotiating is celebrated as an art. While India or the Middle East may come to mind, when it comes to masters of negotiation, Japan tops the list. Thomas explains that the American way of logic and reasoning is persuasion, not negotiation, and you can persuade until you're blue in the face and still get nowhere. The art of negotiation is allowing your counterpart (don't think of them as your "opponent") to save face, which means always giving some concessions to get what you really want. "Beating" your colleague is not a way to create long-term relationships, but a "win-win" solution is. Thomas presents 21 powerful rules of negotiating, plus gives "Quickies," specific tips on how to negotiate with your boss, spouse, child, car dealer, contractor, and more. Inspiring. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Jim Thomas offers keenly practical guidance on how folks like you and me can become successful negotiators.” (Mike Matz, Executive Director, Campaign for America's Wilderness )

“The only negotiating book you’ll ever need. It’s required reading for anyone who wants the edge in negotiating.” (June Blocklin, Vice Chairman, Young & Rubicam )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060781068
• ISBN-13: 978-0060781064
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #476,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Thomas is a Washington, D.C. attorney, author, speaker, trainer, and one of the most acclaimed and respected negotiators in the United States.

Mr. Thomas has specialized in negotiation for most of his 35-year law practice. His negotiating experience encompasses mergers and acquisitions, domestic and international business transactions, arms control, the environment, trade and diplomacy, labor relations, and a host of other fields. His clients include most of the Fortune 500, as well as non-profit groups, professional and trade associations, and federal, state, and local government agencies.

He was a member of the United States' negotiating team in the successful Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) negotiations with the former Soviet Union. The INF Treaty brought about the first-ever reduction in the total number of nuclear weapons worldwide, and under its terms almost one-half of all such weapons were eventually destroyed.

Mr. Thomas is the author of the Negotiate to Win® Workshop series, which since its debut 20 years ago has become one of the leading negotiation training programs in the world. It is the recipient of a number of ASTD and NAPM awards for excellence.

Mr. Thomas' book, Negotiate to Win, is a HarperCollins international bestseller. First published in late 2005, it was a Pulitzer Prize candidate in 2006 and is today available in 18 languages. He is the author of scores of articles about negotiating, a frequent guest on television and radio, a regular commentator on CNN and MSNBC, and a popular speaker at corporate, government, and association conventions, conferences, and other events. Mr. Thomas is a partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm and a principal in a California venture capital firm. He also serves on the boards of several corporations and is a member of the faculty at The Georgetown University Law Center and at the University of Washington's Pacific Coast Banking School.

Mr. Thomas is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles and The Georgetown University Law Center. He has three adult children. He and his wife Jacqueline reside in Washington, DC and on Sunset Beach Island, North Carolina.

James C. Thomas, Jr.
Common Ground
8300 Greensboro Drive, Suite 800
McLean, VA 22102
Tel [phone]
Fax [phone]
www.commongroundseminars.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book easy and fun to read, December 3, 2006

By 

L. Lerner (ambler, pa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Negotiate to Win: The 21 Rules for Successful Negotiating (Hardcover)

Unlike Herb Cohen's book "Negotiate This" Negotiate to Win: The 21 Rules for Successful Negotiating will teach tricks of the trade from page one. This book will lay out how to start the negotiation, how to react to first offers, how to get to a great postion to counteroffer, and finally how to realize when someone is at the bottom line. It is easy to understand and fun to read. The tips and the practices can be used in real life scenarios from day one and incorporated into negotiations immediately, even with no practice. The rules will help in every scenario and show how the other side may react to concessions, counteroffers, nibbles and krunches. I highly recommend this book to anyone it is the best book on negiations I have read.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very handy and usable guide to negotiating, September 3, 2006

By 

Jeffrey Leeper "kem2070" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Negotiate to Win: The 21 Rules for Successful Negotiating (Hardcover)

Many of the tips in the book sound familiar from the other books on negotiating I've read. However, the author here does a good job in making a very readable guide as well as does a good job in explaining why the tip works. He also highlights particular pitfalls that await the unwary.

The author mentions early on that he is trying to add some humor into the work and apologizes, in advance, if we find it offensive. Nothing really stood out as offensive, but some jokes don't seem to fit with the principle he was explaining.

The tips are easy to remember, but as with all skills, the reader needs to practice these. The book is more than clear in explaining what and how to do it. I plan on using some of these myself.

The author points out that the bottom line is sometimes the bottom line. I never really thought about this, but it fits with the notion of win-win negotiating. We have to remember that most of our negotiations have an ongoing relationship component.

The back provides some tips on negotiating for a car or home. These are the most common negotiations we get into.

I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to brush up their negotiating skills. This is a skill that will help you at work or at home.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, December 3, 2005

By 

Vipin Tiwari "a reader" (CA, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Negotiate to Win: The 21 Rules for Successful Negotiating (Hardcover)

It's a great book, very easy read and full of examples.
First of all it's a very structured book and the "rules of negotiations" have been divided into "critical", "important but obvious" and "nice to have" rules so it makes it easier to understand the importance of each rule.
The thing I like the most about this book is that it puts lot of of emphasis on a very important part of most of the negotiations, "saving other side's face" which means that negotiations should mostly be a "win-win" situation.