Chris Voss > Quotes

“He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of negotiation.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Conflict brings out truth, creativity, and resolution.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Negotiate in their world. Persuasion is not about how bright or smooth or forceful you are. It’s about the other party convincing themselves that the solution you want is their own idea. So don’t beat them with logic or brute force. Ask them questions that open paths to your goals. It’s not about you.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“If you approach a negotiation thinking the other guy thinks like you, you are wrong. That's not empathy, that's a projection.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“The beauty of empathy is that it doesn’t demand that you agree with the other person’s ideas”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Hope is not a strategy”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Negotiation is not an act of battle; it’s a process of discovery. The goal is to uncover as much information as possible.         ■”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Another simple rule is, when you are verbally assaulted, do not counterattack. Instead, disarm your counterpart by asking a calibrated question.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

“Mirrors work magic. Repeat the last three words (or the critical one to three words) of what someone has just said. We fear what’s different and are drawn to what’s similar. Mirroring is the art of insinuating similarity, which facilitates bonding. Use mirrors to encourage the other side to empathize and bond with you, keep people talking, buy your side time to regroup, and encourage your counterparts to reveal their strategy.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

“Research shows that the best way to deal with negativity is to observe it, without reaction and without judgment. Then consciously label each negative feeling and replace it with positive, compassionate, and solution-based thoughts. One”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Psychotherapy research shows that when individuals feel listened to, they tend to listen to themselves more carefully and to openly evaluate and clarify their own thoughts and feelings.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“The fastest and most efficient means of establishing a quick working relationship is to acknowledge the negative and diffuse it.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“This is listening as a martial art, balancing the subtle behaviors of emotional intelligence and the assertive skills of influence, to gain access to the mind of another person. Contrary to popular opinion, listening is not a passive activity. It is the most active thing you can do. Once”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“The positive/playful voice: Should be your default voice. It’s the voice of an easygoing, good-natured person. Your attitude is light and encouraging. The key here is to relax and smile while you’re talking.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

“The person across the table is never the problem. The unsolved issue is. So focus on the issue. This is one of the most basic tactics for avoiding emotional escalations. Our culture demonizes people in movies and politics, which creates the mentality that if we only got rid of the person then everything would be okay. But this dynamic is toxic to any negotiation.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Though the intensity may differ from person to person, you can be sure that everyone you meet is driven by two primal urges: the need to feel safe and secure, and the need to feel in control. If you satisfy those drives, you’re in the door.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

“By repeating back what people say, you trigger this mirroring instinct and your counterpart will inevitably elaborate on what was just said and sustain the process of connecting.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“It’s a phenomenon (and now technique) that follows a very basic but profound biological principle: We fear what’s different and are drawn to what’s similar. As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. Mirroring, then, when practiced consciously, is the art of insinuating similarity. “Trust me,” a mirror signals to another’s unconscious, “You and I—we’re alike.” Once”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Playing dumb is a valid negotiating technique, and”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“When the pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion—you fall to your highest level of preparation.”
― Chris Voss

“The Rule of Three is simply getting the other guy to agree to the same thing three times in the same conversation. It’s tripling the strength of whatever dynamic you’re trying to drill into at the moment. In doing so, it uncovers problems before they happen. It’s really hard to repeatedly lie or fake conviction.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Truly effective negotiators are conscious of the verbal, paraverbal (how it’s said), and nonverbal communications that pervade negotiations and group dynamics. And they know how to employ those subtleties to their benefit. Even changing a single word when you present options—like using “not lose” instead of “keep”—can unconsciously influence the conscious choices your counterpart makes.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“The last rule of labeling is silence. Once you’ve thrown out a label, be quiet and listen.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

“A good negotiator prepares, going in, to be ready for possible surprises; a great negotiator aims to use her skills to reveal the surprises she is certain to find. Don’t commit to assumptions; instead, view them as hypotheses and use the negotiation to test them rigorously. People who view negotiation as a battle of arguments become overwhelmed by the voices in their head. Negotiation is not an act of battle; it’s a process of discovery. The goal is to uncover as much information as possible. To quiet the voices in your head, make your sole and all-encompassing focus the other person and what they have to say. Slow. It. Down. Going too fast is one of the mistakes all negotiators are prone to making. If we’re too much in a hurry, people can feel as if they’re not being heard. You risk undermining the rapport and trust you’ve built. Put a smile on your face. When people are in a positive frame of mind, they think more quickly, and are more likely to collaborate and problem-solve (instead of fight and resist). Positivity creates mental agility in both you and your counterpart.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

“■    Identify your counterpart’s negotiating style. Once you know whether they are Accommodator, Assertive, or Analyst, you’ll know the correct way to approach them.         ■    Prepare, prepare, prepare. When the pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion; you fall to your highest level of preparation. So design an ambitious but legitimate goal and then game out the labels, calibrated questions, and responses you’ll use to get there. That way, once you’re at the bargaining table, you won’t have to wing it.         ■    Get ready to take a punch. Kick-ass negotiators usually lead with an extreme anchor to knock you off your game. If you’re not ready, you’ll flee to your maximum without a fight. So prepare your dodging tactics to avoid getting sucked into the compromise trap.         ■    Set boundaries, and learn to take a punch or punch back, without anger. The guy across the table is not the problem; the situation is.         ■    Prepare an Ackerman plan. Before you head into the weeds of bargaining, you’ll need a plan of extreme anchor, calibrated questions, and well-defined offers. Remember: 65, 85, 95, 100 percent. Decreasing raises and ending on nonround numbers will get your counterpart to believe that he’s squeezing you for all you’re worth when you’re really getting to the number you want.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Creating unconditional positive regard opens the door to changing thoughts and behaviors. Humans have an innate urge toward socially constructive behavior. The more a person feels understood, and positively affirmed in that understanding, the more likely that urge for constructive behavior will take hold. ■​“That’s right” is better than “yes.” Strive for it. Reaching “that’s right” in a negotiation creates breakthroughs. ■​Use a summary to trigger a “that’s right.” The building blocks of a good summary are a label combined with paraphrasing. Identify, rearticulate, and emotionally affirm “the world according to . . .”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“What does a good babysitter sell, really? It’s not child care exactly, but a relaxed evening. A furnace salesperson? Cozy rooms for family time. A locksmith? A feeling of security. Know the emotional drivers and you can frame the benefits of any deal in language that will resonate. BEND”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It

“As you can see, “No” has a lot of skills. ■​“No” allows the real issues to be brought forth; ■​“No” protects people from making—and lets them correct—ineffective decisions; ■​“No” slows things down so that people can freely embrace their decisions and the agreements they enter into; ■​“No” helps people feel safe, secure, emotionally comfortable, and in control of their decisions; ■​“No” moves everyone’s efforts forward.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“Yes,” as I always say, is nothing without “How?”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

“There are actually three kinds of “Yes”: Counterfeit, Confirmation, and Commitment.”
― Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It