ABOUT THE BOOK
Baseball scouts prowl the globe for what are known as “five-tool” players: athletes with superior ability to hit for average, hit for power, field, throw, and run the bases. Five-tool baseball players are outstanding in all facets of the game. Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and the young Mickey Mantle (before knee problems slowed him) are generally considered the best five-tool players of all time. Each of these legends led his team to World Series championships.
a six-figure sales agreement with a purchasing agent, a five-figure Lexus with an automobile dealer, a four-figure raise with your boss, or even a workable bedtime with your child. By understanding how these tools work, anyone who negotiates in a business, professional, consumer, or family capacity can develop the depth of knowledge and the tactical flexibility to outperform the competition.
Negotiation, like baseball, is a game in which success is achieved by using five, and only five, tools. Fortunately for most of us, none of them requires the ability to hit a big-league curveball. These tools are the keys to winning at the bargaining table in any league; that is, they are the same whether your goal in negotiating is an eight-figure corporate merger with a CEO, a seven-figure lawsuit settlement with a lawyer,
TOOL #1
BARGAINING ZONE ANALYSIS
Enables you to identify the range of agreements that will benefit both parties.
TOOL #2
PERSUASION
Convinces your counterpart, more than she otherwise would have recognized, that reaching an agreement will benefit her.
TOOL #3
DEAL DESIGN
Structures the terms of the potential agreement in ways that make it more valuable.
TOOL #4
POWER
Forces your counterpart to reach an agreement on terms relatively more desirable to you.
TOOL #5
FAIRNESS NORMS
Provides a framework for sealing a bargain on terms that both parties can feel good about.
A baseball player need not be an expert at wielding all five of the tools of his game to excel. Even among elite professional athletes, very few are considered legitimate five-tool players. Superior hitting ability can make up for some weaknesses in fielding, and a great fielder with a strong arm and speed might enjoy a long career, even if he doesn’t hit home runs.
But only the five-tool player is truly complete.
The same can be said for negotiators. You don’t need to be a master of all five tools to step onto the negotiation playing field. With some natural instincts for one or two tools, you can get into the game. Most professionals navigate the commercial world in just this way. But five-tool negotiators, or 5TNs, as I call them, play on a different level entirely. They are rare, even among those who routinely achieve good results in their particular line of work. This book will put you on the road to mastering all five tools and becoming a part of the negotiating elite.
The Five Tool Negotiator Approach is universal, rigorous and manageable.
UNIVERSAL
The 5TN approach is universal. Negotiation is a communication process that we use to engage the assistance of others to accomplish our goals. This book breaks down this critical social process into the core elements that are present in every negotiation, describes how they fit together, and provides a road map for navigating them. The five tools encompass the entire variety of tactics and techniques that provide an advantage in bargaining. You can use them to negotiate with your clients, your boss, a used-car dealer, or your spouse and kids.
RIGOROUS
The 5TN approach is rigorous. The lessons you will learn have been honed over my 25 years of studying, writing about, and teaching negotiation to law and business students on four continents as well as to professionals in business and law. My approach is built on the platform of decades of research in a range of fields, including economics, decision theory, game theory, behavioral economics, cognitive psychology, social psychology, business, and law, and is also molded by my practical experience as a management consultant and a lawyer. This is a book for negotiators, not for scholars, but it is based on science. Throughout these pages, you’ll learn about dozens of fascinating social science studies that underlie the five-tool framework.
MANAGEABLE
And finally, the 5TN approach is manageable. I provide a simple structure that you can easily learn, remember, and immediately apply.
When you go to negotiate, you will have only five points you need to remember and put to use. You can then evaluate your performance and continue to improve your skills by critically assessing how well you were able to use each of the tools in your bargaining interactions.
PRE-ORDER
THE FIVE TOOL NEGOTIATOR.
AMAZON • APPLE BOOKS • BARNES & NOBLE • BOOKS-A-MILLION • BOOKSHOP • HUDSON • INDIEBOUND • TARGET • WALMART
ISBN: 978-1-63149-020-0 / 304 pages
