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Some cultures are win-lose, so to strike a deal you have to look like you're losing.



It's totally possible that I've been lucky in my career so far. Or just that my personality type lends well to this sort of thing.

There are exceptions to every rule, but I've negotiated with Russians, Chinese, Americans, British, French, Italians...and just about every other European country and probably a few others I'm forgetting. (Deal sizes have been 1m+, but there's definitely layers above that where I don't have experience.) In all my experience thus far, I can honestly say I've only ever had the displeasure of having to manufacture a 'loss' once. And that was dealing with an American, albeit he was working for a large Chinese company.

I'm always eager to hear about other folk's experiences, so if you can give some more insight into what cultures you've seen this with and how you've managed to handle it I'd love to listen!

edit - I just realized the tone of this might come off as a tad 'superior' and that's truly not my intent. If you have experiences that can potentially make me better at what I do, I'm genuinely eager to learn.


I agree with this.

I would note that some people view negations as win/lose. Personally I prefer not to do business with them. Edit: this is really covered by the "be prepared to walk away" rule.


Walking away is the result of not being able to negotiate at all.


Would you care to give some examples? I’ve heard this before but haven’t found it to be true in any situation involving repeated negotiations (not one-off transactions)




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