The Negotiation Toolkit: How to Get Exactly What You Want in Any Business or Personal Situation

Rating:
Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: As the title implies, this book gives you the tools you need - in the form of information and tactics - to negotiate effectively. No matter what line of work you're in, you'll benefit from the negotiation principles, strategies and styles that Roger J. Volkema presents in an easy-to-read format. He includes exercises that you can use to test your comprehension of the material and to start developing your skills. His chapters on ethics and cross-cultural negotiations, while general, provide an intellectual starting point for further investigations. This book will give you a basic foundation for effective negotiation, but if you're in a business that demands the skill, you'll want to follow up with some more advanced reading and training. Nevertheless, we [...] recommend this book to anyone who feels a little overwhelmed whenever they find themselves across the table from a negotiating adversary, whether it's your boss, an employee a customer or - gulp! - your spouse.


Rating:
Summary: Easy to read & practical
Review: I publish a newsletter for radio station management and Talk talent; and reviewed this book in a recent issue. Generally, negotiating is something radio people are TERRIBLE at. Sales people under-value radio ad time (mathematically the most cost-efficient marketing medium in the history of mankind). And Talk talent who sound so self-assured on-air just CRUMBLE when it's time to negotiate their own deals. Anyone in our industry would profit quickly from reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: The negotiator as pain-in-the-rear
Review: Overall, this book is good, but much of it is unoriginal and some of it raises doubts about the author's grasp of practice. For a start, Dr Volkema falls back on the tired "dual concerns" model of conflict style, with its blend of concern for the self and the other. The model is okay, but it has become a cliche, like win-win etc. For good reasons, many authors (excluding Dr Volkema) have at least come to reject "compromising" (moderate concern for both self and other), one of the five distinct (doubtful in itself) styles that comprise the standard model. "Avoiding" is also suspect as a style, especially as defined by Dr Volkema: "avoiding not only the issues but the other party or parties and negotiation itself." Surely you do not use a negotiation style if you avoid negotiation itself. Here and there, the book contains silly examples and advice. For instance, if you don't mind being a pain in the rear, and need to satisfy your ego, take Dr Volkema's advice to go to a restaurant and "negotiate" a dish that is not on the menu. (Make sure you send back the wine.) Don't try it in Paris. He claims that a request to check in for a domestic flight at an international counter "is likely to be met with the utmost receptivity." On what planet? He advises us to insist on negotiating only with those who are authorized to close a deal and sign a contract. Don't try it in China. Dr Volkema has a friend who is presented as a good tactician because he takes out a book and makes people wait until he has finished reading. Unlike the other blather-mouthed tricks suggested by Dr Volkema, that one should keep you quiet while you feed your ego. But, don't try it anywhere.

Rating:
Summary: Great do-it-yerself
Review: THE NEGOTIATION TOOLKIT is exactly what it claims to be - a do-it-yourself handbook to getting your everyday negotiation act together. Theory is kept to a bare minimum, advice is practical and applicable and the idea of including short negotiation simulations (to do with your friends/family) is a stroke of genius. If you're thinking of selling your house, buying a car, or just getting a tie (ok, make that a pair of socks) thrown in next time you buy a suit, get THE NEGOTIATION TOOLKIT. It's fun and it will save you money.