News: Telephone and Writing Skills
Negotiation training 'must emphasise reciprocity'
09 March 2009
Reciprocity is one of the motivating factors which should be emphasised as part of communication or negotiation training, an author claims.
The Guardian reports that books such as Robert Cialdini's The Psychology of Persuasion and Robert Levine's The Powers of Persuasion emphasise the fact that people are often driven by a sense of fairness.
Mr Levine writes: "When someone does something for us, we feel obligated to do something for them in return."
According to the news provider, the manipulation of anchor points can also play a key part in negotiation and sales training.
The authors suggest by setting prices artificially high before discounting them, people believe they are acquiring a bargain, the source reveals.
A number of supermarkets offer items on permanent sale, with the original price on the label creating the impression it is a good deal, they claim.
Kelley Robertson, author of the Secrets of Power Selling, recently told Manage Smarter that sales pitches should focus on the client's problems if they are to be effective.
