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Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. This relatively short book has made more of a difference to my personal livelihood than maybe any other pice of litera

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. This relatively short book has made more of a difference to my personal livelihood than maybe any other pice of literature or advice. You really don’t realize how much negotiating you do in day to day life. Its good to be comfortable with it.

tedmcory77 6y ago
Seconding this book. I took grad school level negotiation classes and this book added as much or more value when I've negotiated for pricing, salary, etc.
switch007 6y ago
I was part-way through the book and I needed to sell some things on Gumtree. Normally I'd expect some low balling at first and then accept below the asking price. However using what I'd read in the book, I got the asking price for all 4 items I sold!
totally 6y ago
The audiobook is good as well, you can hear the tone of voice, which is useful.
- dtech 6y ago
  I looked it up and saw it was read by Michael Kramer. It's worth it do just hear his voice.
  - elros 6y ago
    For a moment I thought you said Cosmo Kramer... That'd be something hahaha
- Breza 6y ago
  Totally agree about listening to the audiobook!
cashsterling 6y ago
Another vote for this book... it is very good. I negotiate contracts, price, and terms & conditions as a significant portion of my job.
spelunker 6y ago
Chris Voss also has a Masterclass on negotiation. I imagine it's probably similar to his book, but it's very good.
- jcomis 6y ago
  It's basically verbatim.
5555624 6y ago
There's also a TEDx talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_voss_never_split_the_difference https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_voss_never_split_the_differe...
dave84 6y ago
That book paid for itself ten times over by the time I had finished reading it, practicing on insurance renewals and utility bills.
- Breza 6y ago
  It's incredible how much you can save on your bills! I read the book and called my ISP. I was polite and didn't threaten to leave or do anything aggressive and ended up paying less for faster service.
ethbr0 6y ago
+1 One key component that Voss spends a lot of time on -- if your counterparty comes out a negotiation feeling like they lost, everyone loses. The outcome of a successful negotiation is that a fair deal is struck, and everyone feels good (or at least not bad) about it. There are very few situations in the real world that are true one-offs, where you'll never have to interact with that counterparty again. Consequently, scorched-Earth is a poor long-term approach.
hooloovoo_zoo 6y ago
Interesting, I found the author so off-putting I didn't make it more than 50 pages. I'll have to try again based on all these +1s.
balabaster 6y ago
His Masterclass was awesome too! And I definitely recommend listening to the Audiobook vs. reading it. Hearing his tone of voice and watching his body language made such a difference in understanding his point.
0xdeadbeefbabe 6y ago
comfortable with it?

tedmcory77 6y ago

Seconding this book. I took grad school level negotiation classes and this book added as much or more value when I've negotiated for pricing, salary, etc.

switch007 6y ago

I was part-way through the book and I needed to sell some things on Gumtree. Normally I'd expect some low balling at first and then accept below the asking price. However using what I'd read in the book, I got the asking price for all 4 items I sold!

totally 6y ago

The audiobook is good as well, you can hear the tone of voice, which is useful.

dtech 6y ago
I looked it up and saw it was read by Michael Kramer. It's worth it do just hear his voice.
- elros 6y ago
  For a moment I thought you said Cosmo Kramer... That'd be something hahaha
Breza 6y ago
Totally agree about listening to the audiobook!

cashsterling 6y ago

Another vote for this book... it is very good. I negotiate contracts, price, and terms & conditions as a significant portion of my job.

spelunker 6y ago

Chris Voss also has a Masterclass on negotiation. I imagine it's probably similar to his book, but it's very good.

jcomis 6y ago
It's basically verbatim.

5555624 6y ago

There's also a TEDx talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_voss_never_split_the_difference https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_voss_never_split_the_differe...

dave84 6y ago

That book paid for itself ten times over by the time I had finished reading it, practicing on insurance renewals and utility bills.

Breza 6y ago
It's incredible how much you can save on your bills! I read the book and called my ISP. I was polite and didn't threaten to leave or do anything aggressive and ended up paying less for faster service.

ethbr0 6y ago

+1 One key component that Voss spends a lot of time on -- if your counterparty comes out a negotiation feeling like they lost, everyone loses. The outcome of a successful negotiation is that a fair deal is struck, and everyone feels good (or at least not bad) about it. There are very few situations in the real world that are true one-offs, where you'll never have to interact with that counterparty again. Consequently, scorched-Earth is a poor long-term approach.

hooloovoo_zoo 6y ago

Interesting, I found the author so off-putting I didn't make it more than 50 pages. I'll have to try again based on all these +1s.

balabaster 6y ago

His Masterclass was awesome too! And I definitely recommend listening to the Audiobook vs. reading it. Hearing his tone of voice and watching his body language made such a difference in understanding his point.

0xdeadbeefbabe 6y ago

comfortable with it?