Divide and Conquer
Cast the other side’s negotiators against one another by giving the majority of your interest to one person or planting seeds of disagreement. Your knowledge of individual preferences can be used to divide and conquer.
This technique can confuse the other side by drawing their attention away from the negotiation at hand and onto internal disagreement. When the opposition is arguing amongst themselves, propose a solution that the key decision maker will agree and is beneficial to your side. Do this with care, because if your opposition realizes what you are doing, they are likely to reunite stronger and all trust that you have gained will be lost.
Example
A real estate agent is having an open house. Her listing is new to the market and a hot deal. She is hoping to sell the house herself today, so that she can earn both the listing and selling commissions. Double-dipping is not exactly in the clients be interest, after-all when representing both sides you can negotiate for no one, but it’s twice the money!
A young couple walks into the house and they love what they see. The agent finds out that they are already pre-approved for a loan and are talking amongst themselves about putting an offer on today. By the tone of the conversation, the wife sounds like she is the key decision maker. The agent wants to encourage them to sign a contract with her right then, but when she mentions it the husband says that they will have to wait for their realtor to get back into town to draw up the contract.
The agent takes the wife aside, while the husband is checking out the yard, and she tells her this house is perfect for the two of them and can’t she see raising her kids here? The agent tells her that she can see she is a smart woman and lets her know that she has to move on this deal today! The wife then persuades the husband to sign the contract right then and there.
