The Science of the Deal

By Donald Wayne Hendon

Donald gives us 500 negotiating tactics in this book compared to only 11 in the other Donald’s book. What I love most about our Donald’s book is its simplicity and practicality – easy to read, with powerful techniques that work. What I also like is how our Donald shows us the 68 dirty negotiating tricks to watch out for and avoid using…cautious and ethical advice. This book is for everybody, because we are always negotiating, whether we realize it or not. We negotiate in business with our customers and vendors. We negotiate when we buy a car or house. We even negotiate at home with our children and spouse. This book shows you how to win your negotiations…with honor!”

The Science of the Deal, has created quite a clever way to approach deal-making. Over the last 40+ years he's developed some 500 negotiating tactics, allocated by subcategories such as cooperative, defensive, submissive, assertive, and so on. This book offers interesting reading for virtually everyone, especially if you want to take your deal-making capabilities to a new level.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frederick Fell Publishers, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781595072788

Book preview

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INTRODUCTION

WHAT YOUR BOOK IS ALL ABOUT

This book of yours is your pathway to success. You’ll love the way it ends. Just look at Chapter 17. You’ll refer to it over and over. That’s why I made it easy to find—it’s at the very end of your book, pages 215-268. It gives you a complete and up-to-date list of my 500 deal-making (negotiating) tactics. My 2010 book had only 365 tactics, and that’s why was titled 365 Powerful Ways to Influence. The 100 most powerful techniques are italicized and in bold-face, so they stand out. When you master these tactics, you’ll be a big, big winner! And if you’re already a winner, you’ll become an even bigger winner!

Before I tell you what’s in the next 17 chapters, let me tell you a little bit about myself:

I’m an American. But if I had been born three blocks further south, I would have been a Mexican. I was born and raised in the bi-cultural city of Laredo, Texas, which is across the Rio Grande from Nuevo Laredo, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. I’m one-fourth Mexican (con orgullo!) and three-fourths American (con orgullo, tambien). So I know Americans, and I know Mexicans. So let me ask you: Are Americans pretty good or really terrible about negotiating deals?

Here’s a hint: Foreigners, including Mexicans, love to deal with Americans. Why? Because their experience has shown them that Americans are notoriously bad at negotiating deals—i.e. not very good at getting what they want from foreigners or from each other. Here’s why foreigners have a low opinion of American negotiators.

They think Americans have a Big I, Little You mentality. I agree! In general, we Americans think our nation is number one in almost everything, even in areas where we don’t excel. Overseas, we egotistically let everybody know We’re the greatest (This is actually Assertive tactic 73 in your book.)

And so Chapter 1 gives you the 18 reasons why Americans are sub-par at deal-making.

It also tells you how to avoid the dumb mistakes and stupid assumptions that make Americans get a lot less than they could when they try to close a deal. You’ll also enjoy the inside story of how the poor underdog Sam Walton turned a five-and-ten cent store into the world’s largest retailer, called Walmart. Sam became the winningest underdog of all time. And, by the way, your book is written from the underdog’s point of view, not from the Big Dog’s point of view. Underdogs are not losers. In fact, they almost never lose if they find different and unique ways to fight. And you’ll soon discover these unique and powerful methods throughout your book!

What about Chapter 2? It tells you what’s going on inside the mind of the Big Dog.

Who are Big Dogs, anyway? They are the powerful opponents you face when you negotiate deals anywhere in the world. After you read this chapter, you’ll know how to take advantage of their Big I, little you attitude. And you’ll learn many subtle tricks to win them over to your side.

Chapters 3 through 9 contain the 50 most powerful deal-making tactics that are OVER-used by people all over the world.

You’ll see them used against you often. So be prepared! You’ll especially like Chapter 9. It tells you how to tempt The Other Person (known as TOP) with your concessions win big in the process! And precisely how to make TOP give you more concessions than they really want to. It’s really a science, not an art!

Chapters 10 through 15 thoroughly discuss the 50 most powerful negotiating tactics that most people DON’T use very often.

Use them to surprise people when you make deals with them. Putting them off balance gives you the winning edge!

In Chapters 3 through 15, you’ll also learn hundreds of extremely effective responses to use against these 100 tactics—responses TOP won’t expect. You’ll put them off-balance, out of rhythm. Taking advantage of their rhythm when they’re unsettled will help you win the deal. (By the way, this is one of the most powerful tactics in your book—Assertive 119.)

Chapter 15 will quickly become very, very special to you. It gives you valuable insights into the science of body language.

It shows you how you can tell what’s going on in the minds of other people without them even suspecting that you know. And you’ll also learn how to manipulate them with your own body language. If you do it correctly, they probably won’t suspect a thing.

Chapter 16 tells you how to become so skilled at negotiating deals, you’ll make the right move at the right time—almost automatically.

This chapter makes you want to really get out there and start making profitable deals right away.

Chapter 17, of course, is your list of 500 deal-making tactics.

It’s very comprehensive, and all in one place—easy to find, at the end of your book. And a short biography of The Other Donald (Hendon, not Trump) is at the end of the chapter. Anyway, this is going to be an enjoyable—and very practical—journey for you. So let’s get started right now. On your mark, get set, go!

SECTION 1

HOW TO GET READY TO NEGOTIATE DEALS—AND WIN BIG!

These are the Two Chapters in Section 1:

Chapter 1: A Lesson in Humility: Americans Aren’t Very Good at Deal-Making…Other Nationalities Are Much Better—18 Reasons Why…Plus the Sam Walton Saga

Chapter 2: Know Your Opponent: How to Know What’s On the Big Dog’s Mind

CHAPTER 1

A LESSON IN HUMILITY

Americans Aren’t Very Good at Deal-Making

Other Nationalities Are Much Better

18 Reasons Why

The Sam Walton Saga

What’s in this Chapter:

If you’re an American, this chapter’s an ego-buster! You’ll learn why so many Americans in general are sub-par at negotiating deals—and why a lot of them really stink! You’ll also learn how to avoid the dumb mistakes and misguided assumptions many Americans make. Result: We get a lot less than we could when we try to close a deal, especially when we negotiate with foreigners. The rest of your book tells you how to substantially improve your deal-making skills. Oh, and you’ll love the last part of this chapter. It’s about Sam Walton, who is the winningest underdog of all time. He won, and won big!

To a foreigner, most Americans seem to act like Big Dogs. We often seem to be out of touch with the rest of the world—and with each other, as well. For example, people in the desert southwest don’t really have much in common with people in New England. In Europe, it’s different. Nations are much smaller. And so the French feel a sense of kinship with each other when they watch the national weather forecast on TV. Because they know the weather in Bordeaux (southwest) is usually the same as the weather in Strasbourg (northeast).

I live near Las Vegas, Nevada, in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Dry all the time. Hot as hell for five to six months a year. I don’t care what the weather’s like in Boston, Massachusetts, 3,000 miles away from here. And I don’t plan to go there—that’s where my ex-wife lives! Bostonians don’t care about weather in Vegas—unless they’re getting ready to go there for a vacation. America’s the third largest nation in the world in terms of land area (after Russia and Canada). We also have the third largest population, after China and India. Our size divides us and isolates us from each other.

For several hundred years, the US was isolated from the rest of the world because of geography. Separated from European and Asian nations by two oceans. We have some interaction with Canadians and Mexicans. We were self-sufficient—or at least thought we were. We didn’t need to trade too much with other nations. So we kept to ourselves and developed differently. We’re still different. Very different. That was OK for many years. We had all we needed in the US—even though retailers in New Orleans didn’t really like dealing with suppliers in New York City. Too different.

Today, though, it takes only a few hours to go from San Francisco to London. Ditto New York to Tokyo. Lots of trade between nations. Americans deal with people in other countries on a regular basis now. That’s why it’s more important than ever for Americans to become better deal-makers with people in different nations. If we Big Dog Americans follow the suggestions I make in your book and adopt an underdog attitude, we will win more often. A lot more often! Why? Because underdogs try harder—they have to. When they stop trying harder, they lose.

Remember the Avis Rent-a-Car ads from 1962 through 2012? We’re Number 2, so we try harder! Sure you do—everybody remembers. But nobody seems to recognize the slogan they adopted in 2012: It’s your space. Right after they started using it, they lost a lot of market share. They’re not even Number 2 anymore.

Here’s what I suggest: Try thinking like Mexicans.

Try Thinking More Like Mexicans—They are Natural Negotiators

A large percentage of Americans often get the short end of the stick when negotiating deals with people in other nations. Let’s look at an American and a Mexican. An American will go into a store, look at the price, and will assume that’s the lowest price the seller will accept. So the American won’t haggle. A Mexican will go into the same store, look at the same price, and will assume that’s the highest price the seller will accept.

Haggling is second nature to Mexicans. And second nature to folks like me, who were born and raised on the Mexican border in bi-cultural Laredo, Texas, and other border towns. I tell my clients, I think like a Mexican. They’re natural underdogs, not Big Dogs. And that makes me a much better deal-maker, one that wins most of the time. Hell, I’m even one-fourth Mexican myself. "Otra vez, digo eso con mucho orgullo!"

Let’s take this one step further. One big reason Americans don’t win as much as they should when dealing with foreigners and with each other is that we seem to think we’re all-powerful Big Dogs. We’re not natural underdogs, and so we think we don’t have to try harder. This is the first of 18 reasons.

18 Reasons Why Americans Are Often Very Lousy at Getting What They Want

Reason 1. Too Provincial for our own good.

Most Americans haven’t traveled much outside the US—except to Mexico, Canada, and perhaps places in the Caribbean. So we’re very provincial. We don’t know the ways of the rest of the world. There are a lot of foreign vultures ready to take advantage of us.

Reason 2. Too Predictable.

Foreigners know a lot about the US and Americans from TV shows and movies. They’re very popular overseas. So non-Americans know what to expect from Americans because of the influence the US has on popular culture throughout the world. And their expectations are often correct. But foreign TV shows and movies aren’t that popular in the US. This means Americans are at a big disadvantage when we deal-make, because we don’t know what to expect from non-Americans. Remember, many foreigners seem to treat all American negotiators like Big Dogs. If you’re a natural underdog, you can take advantage of this by doing things the underdog way—foreigners won’t know how to handle this, and this gives you more winning power.

Reason 3. Assuming American English is the only kind of English that’s