Negotiating rent with a landlord who holds all the cards
A cafe owner in Austin faces a 30 percent rent increase and believes she has no leverage. Desmond helps her find four kinds she did not know she had.
Silence is a number too
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Show notes
Silence is a number too
Most people name a number and immediately start apologising for it. Desmond explains why the silence after an offer is the most powerful tool a nervous negotiator has, using three deals from his Chicago years where waiting changed the result.
- Why we rush to fill the gap, and what the other side hears when we do
- Counting to seven: a practical way to hold a pause
- The packaging supplier who dropped 12 percent without being asked
- Silence on the phone, in email, and in person
- When silence becomes rudeness and how to tell
Try it once this week in a low-stakes conversation and send Desmond what happened.
Transcript
Hello, I am Desmond Whitfield and this is Walk Away Money, a show about negotiating for people who were never taught how. Today's lesson is the cheapest one I know, and it took me five years to learn it. When you name a price, stop talking. That is it. Most of us say the number and then, in the same breath, start explaining it, softening it, apologising for it. The other side hears all of that as room to move. I am going to tell you about three deals from my Chicago years, including a packaging supplier who dropped twelve percent because I counted to seven in my head and said nothing. We will also cover how silence works on the phone and in email, where you cannot see a face. It is uncomfortable. That is the point. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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