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advice Learn negotiation skills from watching movies

Spaceship Spaceship
One of my favorite movies is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. By watching this movie, I have developed a superior skill set for negotiations, based around illusion and a bluff, in a way that is not harmful to either party.
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It's not trickery or sleight of hand; it's more like positioning. From the movie, I use the tactics that Jack Aubrey employs on the open seas toward getting deals closed. By the end of deals, we all get what we want, and everyone is happy. I have even applied some of the principles from this movie to close six-figure domain name deals.

More often than we realize, there are negotiations in day-to-day life: getting what you want and the other person getting what they want. These negotiations take place when you, your family, and/or your friends decide on the restaurant to dine; the clothes to wear; the car to drive; the job to work; the salary to earn; and many other aspects of life.

In sales, negotiations happen between value and price, and when the value exceeds the price, people pay.

Before reading the movie spoiler and details about the negotiation tactic, you may want to watch Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. In my opinion, it's a true classic with action, adventure, romance, humor, drama, and heroics. Whether you watch it or decide to read more without watching it, you will learn what I saw and perhaps apply this tactic to your already-deadly Armada.

The negotiation technique that I gained is from a pivotal part in the movie:

The part of the movie that I refer to as a negotiation tactic is when they disguise their ship to look like a whaling ship by painting it black, making it blow smoke, and spilling its sails to slow down, which is quite unprofessional compared to the HMS Surprise crew. The idea originates from a stick insect that has a natural camouflage to look like a stick or twig to avoid being eaten by predators.

In this part of the movie, they are pretending to be a whaling ship ripe for the taking so that an enemy ship would see them as an easy target to restock supplies and possible treasures. An enemy ship is lead to believe that they could simply destroy the whaling ship to smithereens with very little effort because the whaling ship would be outmanned and outgunned.

When it comes to negotiations, I tend to think about this tactic, even today. I first thought about it when I was brokering domain names for Uniregistry in the Cayman Islands as a domain broker. Sometimes, I would envision myself as the captain of that disguised whaling ship. I was working in the Caribbean after all, and pirates did visit and bury treasure in the Caymans.

As an illustration of this negotiation technique, I'm going to tell you about a six-figure domain deal where I applied it. A potential buyer inquired on a one-word domain name. This is the type of domain name that could become a household name in the likes of LinkedIn.com and Freelancer.com. The sales price was $300,000 USD.

The buyer was not able to make an acceptable offer, so I suggested payment options because the seller was open to this type of deal. For example, the buyer can pay 15-25% upfront as a down payment and pay for the domain name on a monthly basis over time. In situations like this, payment options are worth discussing. However, we still had to settle on a price and agree on the terms.

As the negotiations were ongoing, the buyer brought a co-founder/partner into the deal. Even in a negotiation, two people against one person is not fair. So, I mentioned to the buyer in passing that we could bring a senior broker into the deal to help who perhaps has a better relationship with the seller than me. In my mind, I was the whaling ship at this point. Metaphorically, I was spilling my sails and a little sloppy on deck, but this was part of the plan. I was not acting like a big shot or flashy professional broker.

Before I left my desk to get lunch, I had a feeling that the buyer might call while I was away from my desk. Just in case, I quickly briefed my friend and colleague next to me on the deal. I let him know the domain name, what had been going on, and I told him that he's the senior domain broker on the deal with me. I'm glad that I listened to my gut feeling because the buyer called!

It really made a difference and helped to level the playing field as we reached an agreement on price, which was in the low six-figures on a payment plan. The deal did complete and everyone was happy: the buyers got control of the domain name on a payment plan that is affordable for their budget, the seller got a desirable price, and I got my part of the spoils of war, my commission.

I gave my colleague a portion of my commission, like any good captain would; even though he played a small role in the deal, it was a necessary part to complete the deal. Sometimes, it's about the sizzle and not the steak, which is the experience during the process and not solely about what's being sold.

Time to set sail again.

I hope you enjoy the movie as much as I did.

What do you recommend watching to learn negotiation or sales skills?

Share in the comments!

A few reader suggestions:
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I would rather not learn negotiation from the movies
rooted in an authors idea of negotiations

but from expert negotiators



Start with NO...
The Negotiating Tools that the Pros Don't Want You to Know
by Jim Camp (Author)

is a great book to read
 
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Great read, thanks for posting it. Looking forward to the next one......

My favourite sales film is Glengarry Glen Ross - bit old school but a great watch......

 
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I would be a good seller if my English as good as my first language, still learning.
 
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Nice read! Looking forward to more of your content.
 
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Tim got a college degree to prepare him for a life in business. Then he realized that he could have saved a lot of time in learning about deal-making by watching movies, instead.
 
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learned! thank you for sharing. 62.com hopes to have chances to work with you.:xf.grin:
 
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