Flexibility? No Giving and Taking? No Being tough? No The most important thing in negotiations is "Building a perceived Position of Strength" BEFORE negotiations even commence. That means that you have to allow your adversary to believe that: - your are in a superior position than he is - you don't need this deal as bad as he does - you already have viable alternatives - you have plenty of resources at your disposal - you have to gain less than he does, from this deal Bear in mind that I said "perceived" NOT "actual" position of strength, i.e. what the other party believes about you, NOT your actual position. This means that a great deal depends on your attitude, which should be confident, your stance, which should be fast moving and dominating, the information that you spread about your position of strength, the faints and bluffs that you execute during the preliminaty discussions. It is important to realise that, if he is afraid of your retaliations, he believes that your are capable of inflicting 10 times more harm than you actually are: fear always maximises my adversary's perceived capabilities. Next time you go into negotiations, remember: spend some time to build a good position of strength, prior to the actual discussions, and, on the flip-side, deflate HIS position of strength. It will prove invaluable during the actual give-and-take phase. Go make it happen Dimitri