Getting Past No

Getting past no by William Ury is a nice addition to the basic concepts which were laid out in "Getting to yes". Basically, the content of both books is very similar, Getting to Yes provides the basis and Getting past No provides concrete advise for negotiating and elaborates on the things discussed in Getting to Yes. That said, Getting Past No can be read independently from Getting to Yes.

The book describes five steps of "Break Through Negotiation". These steps are hard since they often reflect doing the opposite of what your natural reaction might be in the particular situation.

These five steps are:

- Don't react. Don't react when being attacked, but step back.
- Don't argue. Instead try to agree with them and understand their position.
- Don't reject. Don't reject their position, instead try to reframe their position to understand their underlying interests.
- Don't push your ideas or proposal. Try to work together with them to make a proposal together which is best for both interests.
- Don't escalate. When the above fails, don't escalate the situation and instead think about your alternative and try to describe the situation as it just happened.

The book is very readable and has lots of good and useful examples. It's thin and easy to read in a relative short time. It doesn't contain THAT much information though, for more negotiation techniques check their "Getting to Yes".

Recommended to read after Getting to Yes.

This book is simple and to the point. It does what it claims - teach you how to negotiate. You follow the steps when you deal with salespeople, bankers, and so forth. It is particularly helpful because it tells you the games people play. Once you know what they do, it is possible to counteract it. In other words, it is a useful book.

wow... I was leading a new contract negotiation with one of our clients who takes pride for being a tough negotiator. The deal was complex and the negotiator had interests that were not in sync with the rest of his organization. Needless to say, I felt defeated and frustrated at the end of the negotiations. So, I got on amazon and started researching books on negotiations and after reading many reviews and learning about the author, I picked this book. I read it in one weekend and could not put it down.
I applied the principals of this book during a recent difficult situation and amazingly they worked! All parties interests were met.
We have a team meeting next week where everyone on my team will be getting a copy of this book as gift.

What would you do if you face a big NO during negotiation? This book trains you well to handle such challenges. The techniques are very practical. I felt that this book is lot more better than the hypothetical Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

The author teaches 5 simple negotiation techniques - Get perspective of the situation by 'going to the balcony', step to the adversary's side, re-frame adversary's thoughts and beliefs, build them a golden bridge. If any of the above 4 techniques don't help you - use power to educate your adversaries. The author has cautiously avoided using the word 'adversary'. He recommends everyone to take a 'co-operative' approach and not a 'manipulative' approach.

If there is one thing that is more important than any of the suggested techniques - it is PREPARATION. "The best place to make mistakes is in rehearsing with a friend or colleague, not in negotiating for real". This echoes Jim Champ's "Practice sessions provide you an environment to fail safely" theory.

The importance of having a BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) is re-enforced in this book. Overall, this is a very good book to read to improve your negotiation skills.

I purchased this book for all of my sales people! I personally have read it twice. It must read.