Customer Rating: Summary: Recommended for purchasing professionals everywhere! Comment: Wow! The negotiation techniques described in this book are really powerful. In one section, the book explains negotiation techniques used by suppliers (what the author calls ploys), describes how to spot them, why they work, and how to counter the ploys. I've seen a lot of the ploys described in the book in action and now I have the tools to be a more effective negotiator for my company. In another section, the book describes techniques used by buyers (called tactics), how to use the tactics, and why they work. The other great thing about this book is that it breaks down legal mumbo-jumbo, like the parole evidence rule and indemnification into understandable concepts. I especially recommend this book to people that are responsible for purchasing. Customer Rating: Summary: evaluation of the Brazilian point of view Comment: This book give us very practical information related to negotiation and contract practices.
On the side of negotiation, the subjects are mostly to beginners on Supply Chain Depts.
The topics about contracts (templates, T&Cs) bring useful information, even to seniors executives.
I recommend to take care about the author's advice to managers on how they may interact with Legal Departments, if you work in Brazil. Customer Rating: Summary: Old school manipulation Comment: A quick look at the back cover tells you that the author struggles with the passing of the days of win-lose. In the book, he writes as though he is so fearful of being manipulated by a vendor, that he becomes a predator. Is that the way to build a relationship? Is the business world a jungle or do we make it a jungle by how we act? What would the game of business be like if we all played fair? We will never know if we follow the tactics in this book. The retail auto industry is learning the long term ill effects of manipulation and even they are changing their ways.
I wonder what happens when the vendor discovers your ploys? Are they on your property when they discover you have lied to get a better deal? Are they protecting your employees by installing safety equipment when they learn that you are not trustworthy? The author advocates that the vendor ploys to take your money so you should ploy to get the most for your money. At what level of ethics does this make sense?
When is it really okay to lie? What do you teach your children? Page 80, the endless BAFO recommends that you lie to vendors in order to get a better deal. What happens if that vendor is your neighbor or attends your church?
We live where we work more today than ever before. Check your name on the internet and see who already knows what you do. We must sustain positive relationships at work and at home. Manipulation is not sustainable.
I recommend Speed of Trust by Stephen Covey or Conscious Business by Fred Kofman. Customer Rating: Summary: I hope you don't have one the next time we meet across the negotiation table. Comment: [Disclaimer: I'm Stephen's friend and we talk frequently about these topics.]
The simple truth is that there aren't that many good resources available for people who negotiate contracts, and virtually none of them are written for someone who is a contract professional and sees vendor ploys on a consistent basis. This would seem to not necessarily be a huge deal - you wouldn't think that a negotiation handbook would need to be written to that specific of an audience.
Contract professionals, however, are in a really strange position. We tend to see these ploys so many times and in so many forms that it is sometimes hard to catch the nuances. In other words, we become SO immersed in the shades of gray that we can't tell which shade is lighter or darker.
Stephen's book delineates each shade of gray. He takes each ploy, breaks it down to its component parts and explains the mechanisms by which it works (and how to counter it). Then he turns the tables to discuss buyer tactics and their operation.
Additionally, the Contract Negotiation Handbook covers specific language negotiation on several key contractual terms - which very few other publications even attempt. Lastly, Stephen reviews methods by which you can measure negotiation performance, in essence giving the reader the ability to measure the results of putting the Contract Negotiation Handbook's advice into practice!
Overall, this book more than makes good on its promise of being indispensable. I hope you don't have one the next time we meet across the negotiation table.
Many books have been written on negotiation tactics and a few books have been written on contract drafting, but no book has combined the two disciplines into one-until now. Resulting from over 10 years of actual negotiation experience as both buyer and seller, author Stephen Guth offers insight into a world of negotiations and contracts that few ever see. This book isn't a feel-good book on win-win negotiations. It's an insider's view into real life negotiation tactics and ploys. Readers will learn how to use negotiation tactics such as the Columbo, the Price Slice and Dice, and the Signature Limit Lasso. Readers will also learn how to spot and counter vendor ploys such as the Pop-Tart, Mirroring, and the Only Game in Town. To put it all together, readers are instructed on contract drafting tricks such as Expressly Implied Warranties, the Endless Indemnification, and the Unlimited Limitation of Liability. Readers will never look at contracts the same way again.
