5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A thoughtful basis for negotiation, September 2, 2008
This book does not present a "foolproof" way to negotiate. Instead it disects the negotiation process giving you an understanding of why negotiators act as they do, how you can control the negotiation and how to present your information to your advantage.
If you want to learn how to negotiate and are willing to spend time thinking about what is being taught, this book is the best.
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19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent methods to negotiating a win-win situation!, May 7, 1999
This review is from: Negotiating Game Rev (Paperback)
Mr. Karrass' years of experience provide an excellent and credible background. In combination with the tapes, he portrays real-life examples of how he discovers the true motivations behind a sellers' needs, helps the seller reach those needs, and get a better all-around deal for himself in the process. Mr. Karrass truly seeks to improve the deal for both parties involved.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. The techniques apply to both personal and business life.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Boring and Not Useful, March 9, 2006
This review is from: Negotiating Game Rev (Paperback)
I am the CEO of a medical device company. I've bought and sold scores of companies, products and licenses. While I've done an awful lot of negotiating, I always want to learn how to do it better.
Unfortunately, this book didn't help me very much.
The book is extremely boring. It goes on an on, yet never lays out a coherent negotiating strategy. Every 20 pages or so, it lays out a complex chart that is impossible to follow, let alone understand. It provides many negotiating examples. But, most of them involve Purchasing Departments or country-to-country foreign policy-related negotiations.
In an attempt to make credible points, the author often quotes negotiating "research." Many of the research designs he cites are so subjective and uncontrolled that no reputable business journal would want to report on them. It doesn't really matter though since most of the conclusions the author pulls from this "research" are very obvious. The few ideas from the research that sound genuinely new and intriquing are rarely developed adequately as the book meanders on.
In its favor, the book stresses the need to aim high when negotiating. That's great advice. The book also notes how confident people usually make the best negotiators. The book also made an inriguing point about negotiating with aggressive parties. You want to alternate between being tough and soft, not just one or the other. That's a great point and, in a rare moment of glory, the book does a very good job of developing this point.
However, if you're gearing up for a big negotiation and you want to get some useful negotiating advice beforehand, you won't get it from this book.
Jeff
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