‼️ Masterclass: Chris Voss Teaches The Art of Negotiation ‼️

 20/∞

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“These skills will help you to improve your life because everything in life is a negotiation.”

I have enjoyed this MasterClass tremendously. It is short, compact, packed with information and well structured. Besides, the skills Chris Voss is going to teach you will come handy at any point in your life.

Similarly as this MasterClass, I will keep my review short and compact.

Nowadays, people are leaving schools with fancy academic degrees, yet majority of them will fail when it comes to salary negotiation. 

I will tell you about my experiences with salary negotiation. Most of you know, I did a law degree in the United Kingdom. Back then, my dream was to work as a lawyer in a law firm. I aimed high. I did not want to do any menial jobs anymore.

...

When I started to search for a job in a law firm there weren’t any. I was rejected by all prestigious international law firms in Prague. I kept applying and after 3 or 4 months I finally got an interview.

I had my law degree from the UK and spoke superb English in comparison to majority of Czech lawyers. I was offered 100 CZK (4 EUR) per hour. It was miserably low. I can even say it was offensive. It was less than I was making as a bartender in the UK. As the matter of fact I was making about 2.5 more as a bartender in the UK than I was offered in “a prestigious” law firm in the Czech Republic. 

I did not negotiated the offer. I accepted straight away. I thought I need more “work experience.” I though I will be just learning. 

Bullshit. Fucking bullshit. I had everything already in place and I was about to become a corporate slave. Miserably paid, with miserable life etc. Besides, students in law firms are used on the most boring, uninteresting work ever. Everybody keeps saying them: you fuckers do not deserve a rise, because you fuckers do not have enough experience and on the top of that not enough academic degrees etc. 😀

Well, the offer might have been good for a dumb inexperienced 1st year Czech law student, but not for me… (I already had a fucking UK law degree, I was ready to lick the cream and I was not ready to drink a fucking spoiled milk and wait for better life until I die).

Looking back, to not negotiate about my salary, was a massive mistake. I think I partially started hate that job, because it was so badly paid. (I did other and more pleasurable jobs on the side, which paid for about 400 CZK per hour + good tips). 

But can I blame them for offering me the lowest possible wage? It was me who accepted the lowest bid. They would have paid me more, but I was shy to ask (because I constantly thought I’m not good enough).

Well and that is pretty much what Chris Voss’s class is all about. How to deal with those situations and get the most out of them.

To be honest “the ability to negotiate” and stand up for yourself is in my perspective more important than an academic degree. Again, I wonder, why those soft skills are not taught in Czech law schools? (To be honest they are not taught in the UK or Germany either, but they offer set of courses which will help you to develop some soft skills at least). But why to go to school at the first place when that time is not spent effectively and on courses which will not help you to get what you want from life?

Anyway, “The Millionaire Next Door” taught me I must always haggle about prices. Chris Voss reminds me of that it is okay to negotiate and get what you want. 

Here are some tips and tricks:

65% rule

When negotiating a price, go always to 65% of the original price and then top up your offer. Firstly, by 20%, then by 10% and finally by 5%.

The Black Swan

I’m sure you have hared about The Black Swan written by Nassim Taleb. This book sits for years now in my library, but I still did not read it. 

But what is “a black swan”? It is driver, it is what triggers people. It is when you know other person so well you will start to coding your words only in the way a very few could understand.

Mirroring

This is very interning method. Mirroring helps you to get a loads of information from other people while you will say very little. It is often used by hostage negotiator.

“Hey, Aleš! I love your blog?

“My blog?” (Mirroring)

“Yeah, your blog, where you pretend to be some sort of Kaiser and you offend loads of people.”

“I offend people?” (Mirroring)

“Yeah, like everybody and everything you don’t like. Is this your way of letting go?”

“Letting go?” (Mirroring)

And so on… 😆

The value of “No”

Rephrase and get the no first: 

“Is it a problem for you to buy three tickets?” 

“No? I though so…”

“Could you buy 100 tickets then?”

“Yes? Cool…”

Always ask what and how questions

“Why did you do that, Aleš?” If you ask somebody why, it triggers defensive response. But what and how questions are about collaboration. Let’s say you have too much work. Ask: Well, how (the fuck) am I supposed to do that all by tomorrow? 😀 The fuck is optional. 😉 How should we proceed?

The value of disarming yourself

Hey, name is Aleš, I know you guys think I’m some fucking wanker who thinks he is smarter than anybody else, especially smarter than the British. I’m a guy who called his blog “The Kaiser’s Book Review” as he is some sort of angry German emperor who wants to subjugate the entire fucking world!😆 I also speak as some working class uneducated jackass. All those reviews are suppose to be educational and serve a good purpose, but I keep swearing like some fucking scum tinker. Like who am on the first place I to tell you what to read and what on-line courses to watch? I also hate Czech universities and Czech university lectures. I do not say a single positive thing about them. (Yeah, it sounds pretty much like me… 🤔) 😆😆😆

To put it simply, this is a technique of disarming. This is a good way to start a negotiation.

The First and the Last point should always be positive

Start and finish positively. Those are the two emotions we pay most attention to.

Conclusion:

'

I did not keep my review short and compact on the end of the day, but I enjoyed writing it. Nevertheless, this masterclass is some good shit and you all better watch it. 😉

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Feel free to like, share and comment or recommend books/courses you find inspirational yourself. I’m keen to hear about them.

Coming Up Next: 

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Peace 🧘‍♂️✌️🌱