Category: Customers and customer service

  • Five pernicious assumptions that your service providers make about you

    If you’re like me, then virtually every week brings an unexpected fee hike. Take last week, when both my cable bill and cellular bill unexpectedly jumped $20 a month. “How in the world can our service providers have such gall?”, you might ask. Well, let me tell you how: they make five common, negotiation-related assumptions…

  • Three surprising advantages of negotiating with multiple people

    Many of our negotiations feature several counterparts: It’s us on one side of the table and a couple of people across it. Faced with multiple counterparts, even the experienced negotiator quakes in their boots. How can we, our lone selves, contend with multiple opponents? But a recent multiparty negotiation at the dentist’s office reminded me…

  • Negotiating while the iron’s hot

    In many negotiation situations, you have no choice about when to act. If your car breaks down, you’d better negotiate with the dealer. If your teenager brings home a biker, you’d better negotiate now. In more negotiations than you think, though, you can actually choose when to negotiate. Since picking the right moment—the moment when…