How To Negotiate Like A Pro

The rent on your warehouse. The price of essential supplies. Your top salesperson’s salary. You constantly negotiate to grow your business. Yet no one can be an expert on all types of bargaining. We asked America’s top negotiating pros to share their haggling tips and strategies so you can ramp up your dealmaking game.

- Kevin J. Ryan

LOVE IT OR HATE IT, THE FACT REMAINS: The growth of your business will, at some point, hinge on your ability to negotiate. That’s why, on the following pages, you’ll get tried-and-true negotiating secrets from some of the very best negotiators out there: Inc. GrowCo Conference speakers Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank, Tiffany Pham of Mogul, and Richelieu Dennis of Sundial Brands; Leigh Steinberg, a sports agent who has represented such elite athletes as Manny Ramirez, Ben Roethlisberger, and Oscar De La Hoya (and is widely cited as the inspiration for the movie character Jerry Maguire); Eugene Driker, an attorney with 56 years of experience who was recently tasked with helping the city of Detroit negotiate an agreement with creditors during its bankruptcy; and attorney Kenneth Feinberg, the so-called Master of Disasters whose résumé of negotiating victim settlements encompasses some of the nation’s most tragic catastrophes and crimes. They’ll teach you how to build a connection with your opponent before negotiations even start, how to get the other side to see your point of view, how to change the language of the entire negotiation so it favors you, and how to prepare yourself to walk away if you don’t get what you want. The good news is that if you follow these pro strategies, you probably will.