Upping Your Game at the Negotiating Table

Here are three tips to help you negotiate in the high-end market.

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Today I want to talk about a few points that involve negotiating. I just read the book “Selling Luxury Homes” by Jack Cotton. It's a great text for people who want to work in the high-end market. Many of the themes about negotiating high-end properties are also very relevant to negotiating an everyday home.

The three main points that Jack points out in the chapter on the best negotiating strategies are:

1. Negotiate from a standpoint of preeminence. Preeminence is basically what an agent will develop after decades of being involved with working with high net-income individuals or families who are dealing with an estate. These families often need someone who has expertise that's been developed over time by having negotiated several hundred million dollars worth of transactions. This brings preeminence to the table. This allows the agent to be emotionally uninvolved and unattached to the outcome and to enable the process to unfold in a way that will meet the needs of the client.

Many of the themes about negotiating high-end properties are also very relevant to negotiating an everyday home.
 
2. Don't assume that you know the needs of the other party in any negotiation. The best way for an agent to dissect what the real needs are for a client is to find out all of the details associated not only with pricing and commission but marketing strategies, timetables, and what the end result is going to be. For example, in an estate, is the way the process pans out going to affect one party, or is it going to affect an entire family? It's important to understand and not assume that every client is going to behave in the same way with regard to pricing, negotiation strategy, and a bottom line.

3. Be completely detached from the outcome.
When negotiating for a family, it's critical to understand that the family is going through a crisis. In many cases, this is because the negotiation process is not something that they do all the time. Understand that it's a process that can be grueling. People are oftentimes dealing with a tremendous amount of money and the stress associated with what's going to happen on the other side of the transaction.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns regarding the negotiating process, please feel free to reach out to me via phone or email. Let us know what we can do to make your dream come true. Have a great day, and we will see you next time.