1: Jessica had a problem.

As a sales representative for a large pharmaceutical company, “she was trying to sell a new product to a doctor who used similar medication,” Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference.

The doctor was the single largest user of this kind of medication in the entire territory.

“The sale was critical to her success,” Chris notes.

Jessica’s goal? Convince the doctor to try … continue reading

1: Imagine it’s Thanksgiving. Sitting in the living room is a grandfather who’s grumbling.  

“He is cranky but the underlying emotion is a sad sense of loneliness from his family never seeing him,” Chris Voss writes in Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.

He’s grumpy because he feels like he never sees the family. And he feels lonely. So he’s expressing his feelings … continue reading

1: It’s hot.  A sweltering hot summer’s day.

Three fugitives are trapped in an apartment on the twenty-seventh floor of an apartment building in Harlem.  Chris Voss, the head of the New York City FBI Crisis Negotiation Team, stands in the hallway on the other side of the door.

Yesterday, we looked at the importance of understanding the other person’s emotions in any negotiation.

And while the fugitives were … continue reading