Negotiation: How to get the best deal

You can get a better deal during negotiations if you choose your word carefully, suggests a new study.

Imagine you want to sell your old car. A visitor has just closely examined the vehicle and is quite interested. However, one point is still open: the price.

How do you go about negotiating? Do you just say: "I would like 9,000 euros for the car"? Or better: "I give you the car for 9,000 euros"?

These two sentences carry identical content. However, the second one is the better option, according to the study scheduled to be published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Because that is how your car could possibly make more cash. This is the conclusion that psychologists professor Roman Trotschel from Leuphana University, Laneburg and David Loschelder from Saarland University reached.

"Saying, 'I'll give you my car for 9,000 euros' draws the attention of your opponent to your car, which is what they can gain."

"If you do otherwise, you will emphasise the resource they would lose in case a deal is struck, namely the money he needs to shell out for the car," Tratschel explained.

The researchers investigated this effect in eight studies, involving a total of 650 subjects. The result was always the same: If a negotiating party managed to use wording which brings the resource on offer to the foreground, they achieved better results.

This does not only apply to sellers. The prospective buyer too could formulate his offer correspondingly. For example, "I'll give you 9,000 euros for your car". By this choice of words, the seller would be more ready to make concessions than by "I would take the car for 9,000 euros".

This principle applies even if what is at stake is not money.