Negotiation

I think that the activity we did in class yesterday regarding negotiation was the most useful activity we have done this semester. I think it’s a good idea to learn how to negotiate and to learn some of the tactics we discussed in class as well as the tactics that were discussed in the reading. One of the things that surprised me was how spread out the agreed prices were among the groups. I would have thought that all of the groups would have negotiated a very similar price for the product. It seems that the reasoning behind some people selling relatively low and others high is that one of the group members used one of the tactics discussed in the reading. From what people had to say about how they came to their agreed upon price, it seems that the tactic of an initially outrageous asking price does work. I find the psychological aspect of this pretty interesting. It does make sense however that if you initially set the bar very high, it will influence the other person to come towards your asking price. I feel that this may not always work though, but instead have the possibility of upsetting the other person involved and creating a situation where there is no deal reached. It was also interesting to see that some of the groups came up with agreements other than just price and quantity sold. I feel this is an important aspect of negotiation since it may help seal the deal. The reason I think that this activity is so useful is because negotiation is something that everyone can put to use at one point or another. Examples of this include purchasing a car or home. These are essential purchases that everyone will be making at one point or another. By knowing how to be a good negotiator this could end up saving you thousands of dollars. I think that the article on negotiation makes a great point. The fact that you will never make as much money in so little time as you can by negotiating.