The negotiation of power is a concept that is based on certain rules,
just like in the game of chess. The only difference with negotiation,
which should not be underestimated, is that it is not necessary for our
opponent to know the rules. We can predict the other person’s moves very
precisely, so much so that negotiation can be considered a science
rather than an art. In a game of chess, for example, there is the gambit,
which is the opening move of the game when the first person to move
makes a calculated sacrifice, aimed at strengthening their attack. We
can implement our own gambit, our strategic moves, at any point
of a negotiation: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. The
starting point is to ask the other party for much more than what we
think we can obtain, and by doing so, we create "space" for negotiation.
Asking for more at the beginning helps in many ways: if we want to
sell, we leave ourselves room to manoeuvre to lower a price; if we want
to buy, we could always raise our offer. We must aim to ask for the
maximum reasonable limit: the so-called “Maximum Plausible Position”
(MPP). It helps to bear in mind that the less information we have on the
other person, the higher the amount we should start with. There are
two reasons for this: the first is that you never know; it is easy to be
completely wrong in our assessment of the person we are negotiating
with; the second is that if the relationship is new, we will give the
other person the impression that we are more cooperative if we later
have the opportunity to make big concessions. The other thing is that if
we ask for more than we think we can get, we will increase the
perceived value of our offer.
