The World's Best Negotiator Tells You How To Get What You Want

I started reading this book and after about 40 pages found myself tossing it into the garbage thinking "what a bunch of boloney". Some examples seemed unethical such as saying there was a dent on a refridgerator when there wasn't etc. etc. Examples would start out making sense then slowly deteriorate into the absurd.
Most thoughts seemed to follow other books - there isn't anything new here.
What I read left me with a bad feeling. I want to learn human nature and tips on win-win negotiations. I want my clients to like dealing with me even though I know I got the better end of the deal. What I don't want is to use sly tricks or learn how to be a con-man.
I see most people give this book 5 stars and it makes me wonder why? Maybe I should have read more of the book before giving up. Did the last couple chapters make the whole book worth reading? I'll never know because I threw it away. I was afraid if I read more it would taint the good ideas and information I got from other negotiation books.
If you want a good book order "Negotiage to Close: How to make more successful deals" by Gary Karrass. I am reading it for the 2nd time right now after just reading it 2 weeks ago. This book gave me a good feeling after reading it and I highly recommend it to anyone. Another book I liked is by Frank Bettger "How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling".

Cohen writes a good book on negotiating. It's definitely a good start. He uses plenty of proper analogies (at times perhaps pointless) and has very good points to make. After reading this book, you will definitely come away with a feeling of a better negotiator.

I do not rate this boook as a "FIVE" because 1) the book is a bit out of date (1980) although it is still applicable today, 2)it is more general than I expected and does not cover the little things like body language, etc in as much detail as I would have prefered.

This having been said. I would recommend the book but don't stop here.

I used to teach a negotiation course for a foreign city government. If you are interested in learning negotiation but have not read this tiny book, please grab one for yourself. You are guaranteed to have fun to read it and to learn the best lessons on negotiation from a bargaining expert, Herb Cohen. This classic negotiation book vividly explains the most important negotiation principles though many amusing negotiation scenarios, ranging from buying refrigerators to bargaining with terrorists. After reading the book in 1994, I loved it so much that I decided to read more negotiation books and ended up writing and teaching negotiation myself. This is really a gem of the negotiation study.

According the Play Boy Magazine , Herb Cohen was the best negotiator in the world .
The world is a huge table of negotiations in which whether or not , all negotiate . The way in which our normal encounters with the others will influence decisively in the way the things be fine or wrong .
Through this book you may conduct and organize your life getting what you want , it teaches what to do and how to do . Since the complex relations among parents and sons until the most complex international issues .
It is a process we can understand and conduct , a practical ability in which it is possible to prepare to increase our possibilities to become a winner .

Herb Cohen helps you to shift from "begging and worrying" to get the business to becoming a "true negotiator" operating from a position of strength and power. He shows you where your power to negotiate comes from...others competing to buy from you, knowing your options, establishing legitmacy, willingness to take risks. Building a mindset by getting commitment, establishing expertise and credibility, knowing and understanding what your client needs ( as well as what you need!) and getting the client invested.

Several years ago in Denver,I heard Larry King at a Peter Loew "Success" semniar, describe his High School days in Brooklyn with Herb Cohen. For an incident, that started innocently enough, they were going to be barred from graduating on stage and thrown out of school. Herb did some hardball negotiating and saved the day! They graduated and onstage with the rest of their class!

Splendid clarity and reinforcement of daily practices which are, more often than not, sub-conscious. I especially agree with him that negotiations should be more personalized. However, some examples are exagerated and not practical. Eg haggling and howlng over prices in a retail supermarket is rather absurb.

This book is a good introductory book to negotiation. The style of writing is clear and the chapters are sprinkled with humour. Definitely a good buy for beginners in negotiation.
I am giving it a four star rather than a five star is because the materials presented therein are very elementary technical wise.
P.

For negotiating, you should aim for this variable: to illuminate your reality and its opportunities is most important. If you follow his choices, you can have what you want based on your unique needs.

When you inevitably have conflicts with those you love, negotiation makes everyone feel that he has won. It is a win-win situation as opposed to the You Win, I Lose. A field of knowledge and endeavor which focuses on gaining the favor of those from whom we want or need certain things, like prestige, status, security recognition, etc. It's all negotiable. If you're patient, things come your way, but you need to use the Win-win approach so t hat each person feel he has not had to tive in again.

The three crucial variables are explained in detail: power, time, and information (how to get what you need without anyone getting hurt again) Power is based on perception; the thing is to believe you will get a fair deal. Ralph Waldo Emerson stated truthfully that "our best thoughts come from others" sometimes. If that works for you, believe it. But you need the power of commitment, expertise, and knowledge of needs: two things being bargained for are the specific issues and demands as are stated openly plus the real needs of the other side, rarely verbalized. Especially useful is the power of persistence and persuasion.

We each have a role to play in this world, a reason for being here but, you alone can determine your destiny. In today's "anything goes," all the illegitimacy crossing the races" (in the old days, it was incestuousness of fathers taking advantage of their own daughters) we must seek help with morality. But by whom? Too many churches expounding on diverse subjects, but not the "thou shall not"s. What ever happened to the Ten Commandments.

Mr. Cohen taught at Harvard, the University of Michigan, and The Brookings Institute. This book was on New York Times Bestseller list over nine months.

But thankfully your new book NEGOTIATE THIS written in the same style as YOU CAN NEGOTIATE ANYTHING is a laugh out loud funny book and a great read.
If you are in business or just deal with people this book will beome your Bible.
Ellen

Herb has really captured the essence of negotiation. Negotiations are not just for Sales and Businesses. We negotiate with children, wife, friends, when we shop. Everyone negotiates all the time. Putting a structure to this is what Herb has done and really a great gripping job.

Must Own!

The book reinforced many learnings from my experiences negotiating with domestic and overseas companies in most cases. However, I did not feel that some of the examples given were the best advice - they would not have worked well or would have backfired in many of the cases I experienced, particularly with Asian companies. Otherwise, the book was informative, educational, and offered some humor to make the experience fun.

I learned part of my english by listening at least two dozen times to "Effective Negotiating", an 11 tape audio cassette course by Dr. Chester L. Karrass. Since this course is from 1974, I thought I could learn something new from "You Can Negotiate Anything". -- Bzzt - wrong! At least 80% of the material in this book seems to be copied from Dr. Karrass, down to very specific examples and phrases. And Dr. Karrass isn't even mentioned in the acknowledgements! I, for one, will certainly not by any more books from Mr. Cohen.

A classic. Very entertaining and offers good advice for handling real life negotiating situations. Highly recommended especially for those that don't realize that they are negotiating all the time. This is a book that you should come back to every now and then both for an enjoying reading experience as well as good advice.

Listening to this is like having Herbie there with you! Listen to it from the angle of hearing a friend talk to you, and it will all "click". Don't over analyse it, just listen. Hear what he saying, Feel what he is saying. Then take his advice; arm yourself with information, be mellow, be cool, negotiate, and you shall receive! **[This review is based upon the original unabridged cassette version]**

My name is Michael John Trohimczyk & I have read the book, "How to Negotiate Anything", by Herb Cohen. I did not want to put the book down and continued to read till the end. It is well written and can help any individual in day to day life. Great Job!

What a wonderful book. I learned about negotiating ethically and skillfully from this author. You will too. This book is a must read if you want to learn how to leverage your negotiations, and obtain the best results. Bravo!

I expected good things from this book, but was surprised to find it offered very little useful advice. The examples of what to do in certain situations must have been jokes, they were that inappropriate and irrelevant to real life. Amazingly, the book was also racist at times, making odd comments about Muslims. I actually tossed this book in the garbage, a first for me.

I am currently reading "You Can Negotiate Anything" for a class. It is not only so outdated that it is primarily focused on Cold War dealings with the Soviets, it is also racist and derogatory towards women. Really, has no one written a decent book on negotiation since 1980? This is absurd.

Business has changed a lot since the 1980s. This book will not help you. Unless you are an American business man in the 1980s, in which case, welcome to the future.

And for the reviewer confused by how the talk about Muslims was racist, usually it's frowned upon to talk about other people like they are subhuman animals.

As per the Herb Cohen world is a giant negotiating table and one can negotiate ANYTHING.Though for many this is very convincing an argument,I prefer to disregard this golden rule a little because in my opinion it is too idealistic to say one can negotiate ANYTHING.However hard one tries,in reality,one cannot negotiate ANYTHING.The human limitations interms of right level of skills and abilities,attitude,knowledge,capacity to acquire and analyse the information in time,ability to conclude and decide, deviated perception of time, power and needs prevents us from successfully negotiating ANYTHING.

As a human being,internally,we all do have an inflated perception of self and like many other things it has its own advantages and disadvantages.In this book Herb Cohen has made use of these advantages very nicely and successfully.Although it is very idealistic to say you can negotiate ANYTHING,it helps much for a man on street to motivate himself and approach
the negotiations positively with much confidence.In his book Herb has successfully negotiated with reality, to infuse that confidence and motivation to negotiate ANYTHING in the minds of the reader.

For me this book is the first structured and scientific introduction to the world of negotiations and I have benefited immensely.Though this is a very small book I took much time to complete the first reading as the contents are very informative.Just reading this book doesn't help much for a person who is serious about learning the science of negotiations.Understanding this science, and successful
implementing and practising interms of building the right attitude,thoughts and views is the key and this is why I took more time in completing the first reading.It is not that after
reading this book one will become master in the art of negotiations, rather this book will INITIATE one's journey in the world of negotiations.

I first got attracted to the subject of negotiation when I was thinking what makes people successful,how Lord Gautam Buddha and Lord Jesus were able to influence, change and convince such a huge populace.This desire to know the unknown has put me on the path of understanding the world of negotiations and psychology of human behaviour.Without understanding these two things one cannot become successful in any of his endeavours.

This book definitely helps in understanding the value of information,psychology of needs,and perception of power and time.It also helps in how to deal for a WIN-WIN and how to deal with the so called Soviet Style adamant people.The very presence of 'SOVIET STYLE' psyche proves that one cannot negotiate ANYTHING, as Herb very rightfully suggests to walk-away
from such people.This only underlines another golden rule that one cannot negotiate successfully without any MUTUAL GAIN.

As Herb points out we negotiate everything in life! If you want to achieve success in life it only follows that you can negotiate. If you want to be good, no Great at negotiating then read this book! I recommend it to everyone and have quoted it to my daughters since they could talk! That was decades ago! A fun but super informative read!