When
Negotiating, Look For
Nonverbal
Cues
Your
mother probably taught you that it's rude to stare. But when you negotiate a business
deal, close observation of your opponent makes sense.
By
inspecting your opponent's every physical move, you can often determine
whether
he or she is holding something back or not telling the truth.
The
key is not to stare so much that you make your opponent uncomfortable, but to
be
aware of his or her movements through casual glances and friendly eye contact.
It
will almost certainly give you an edge.
What
should you look for? Experts who study body language suggest a two-step
process.
First, identify a subject's mannerisms during the initial, friendly stages of a
discussion.
As the negotiation unfolds, see whether your opponent suddenly adopts
different
behavior. "You have to watch people a long time to establish what their
baseline
mode is," said David Hayano, author of "Poker Faces." "Once
you know
how
they normally behave, you may be able to tell when they start to put on an
act."
Hayano
is a retired professor of anthropology at California State University at
Northridge,
who has analyzed the body language of poker players, and he's found
that
the rapport-building stage is a valuable time to study your opponent. Why?
Because
that's when you get to know someone's "natural" behavior. "If
you are
dealing
with a very talkative executive who all of a sudden gets meek during the
heat
of the negotiation, then something strange is going on," he said. It may
be a
clue
that your opponent is hiding something; other clues are exaggerated
movements
or excessive enthusiasm.
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