The One Minute Negotiator: Simple Steps to Reach Better Agreements

by Don Hutson, George Lucas

Negotiation impacts every aspect of our lives, from the deals we strike on the job, to our relationships with family members and neighbors, to the transactions we make as customers. Yet most people do anything they can to avoid negotiating—it makes them uncomfortable, nervous, even frightened. This plague of negotiaphobia is what Don Hutson and George Lucas are here to remedy.
Hutson and Lucas tell the tale of Jay Baxter, who sells more than anyone else in his company but finds himself in trouble because his profit margins are so slim—he’s giving too much away to close the deal. Enter the One Minute Negotiator, who teaches him a three-step negotiating process that not only helps him make more profit per sale but can be applied anywhere, on the job or off.
The key to the process is flexibility. Most books on negotiation preach one of two thou shalt collaborate or thou shalt compete. But no two negotiations are alike—one strategy cannot fit all. The One Minute Negotiator teaches you four viable strategies and shows how to choose the one best suited to the situation, your own inclinations, and the strategy being used by the other side.
Besides the obvious benefits, conquering negotiaphobia will reduce your stress level. You’ll never walk away thinking about what you should have asked for or might have gotten. Instead, with the tools Hutson and Lucas provide, you can confidently and consistently guide any negotiation to the best possible conclusion.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Leadership

160 pages, Hardcover

First published August 16, 2010

Reviews

[Liza Fireman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good book about negotiating. People tend to think about negotiation in win lose terminology. The book highlights the fact that you complete a negotiation without victimizing others, or becoming a victim yourself in the process. It guides how to use your skills to actually create a bigger pie instead of fighting over a finite pie.

I liked the model they used to help and figure out who is standing in front of you. I liked some of the strategies and the explanation of why people have negothiphobia.
I especially liked the different strategies: Avoidance, Accommodation, Competition and Collaboration. And their very clear guidance of pitfalls and how to use each one, and also how to step from one to the other.

One thing to pay attention to is that many of the examples here are from a sales person perspective. Which means that there is more tension between the sides, and Competition is likely to be sever. If you are looking for a negotiation that is more company internal, you should put more emphasis also on the other strategies, and mostly Collaboration.

[Malvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a book to teach you all tips and tricks of negotiation or advanced negotiation skills, this book is not for you. It mostly focuses on helping people who usually avoid/ignore the negotiation to overcome their problem.

Its main concept is based on the 4 negotiation styles, depending on the cooperation and proactive level. You will learn how to assess your style as well as your opponent styles and how to act accordingly and flexibly to reach the best outcome.

The story telling style makes it easy to digest if you are not a strong reader.

[David Robins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although it borrows the cachet of The One Minute Manager - with even a forward by Ken Blanchard - this book is not of the same caliber. It's far longer than it needs to be, simplistic, and frankly bombastic in its narration, where the original is humble yet assured. Don't waste your time.

[Jay Best · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just find the heavy handed and tortured dialogue and overly preachy morals in the one minute manager books so painful to wade through.

The line "Thanks lover, glad to always have your unconditional support" makes the story part of the book feel like The Room.

The meat of the negotiation strategies were decent. But it was so padded out so the solid content is spread around the protagonists unhappiness about missing his bonus. Would be better as a simple, 50 page, great booklet.

I much prefered Never Split the Difference for negotiation strategies.

*I skim read the unabridged version 189 pages in 19 mins

[Karthik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book that gives real, practical and genuine advice on negotiating - starting from the very definition of what a negotiation is. While the content it less, the author made it enjoyable to read, pause and ponder about his advices as the book progresses. Read this book, and you might likely want to attend a workshop on this topic by this author.

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick, Fun Antidote To Negotiaphobia

A well-written, quick, fun read packed with realistic advice and solutions. The potentially complex subject of negotiation is reduced to 3 EASY steps, enabling rapid recall and execution, especially with practice. Love the One Minute approach in multiple areas of business and life.

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complete crap. This is a story about someone who takes a class to learn about negotiations, yet the book does not tell you anything worthwhile about what the material was the character learned in the class. Do not waste your time with this book.

[Kari Mccrory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Has some good points and the suggestions are easy to follow. The steps can be used for both business and personal negotiations.

[Linda Williams]

This is a quick read book and it’s very easy to understand because it’s all stories of how to negotiate in the best ways depending on your style and the people’s style that you’re working with.

[Nishi Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read! The book talks of a 2 * 2 negotiation framework and EASY approach to handle negotiations. Loved it!

[Daniel Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelent book, easy to read with an on point strategy on basic negotiation knowledge. Couple of examples to enriche the message and that's it. One time read though.

[Huckleberry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple, easy to implement. book was a little repetitive.

[Rob Caroti · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was pretty lousy due to a hokey story but the process makes sense at a basic level. I can summarize it here so you don't have to read it.

There are three steps (really four) in the EASY "treatment process"

1) Engage - recognize you're in a negotiation
2) Assess - determine the negotiation strategy of "the other side"
3) Strategize - choose a strategy to counter there's
4) Your One Minute Drill... (just to make the acronym)

There are four types of negotiations strategies: Avoidance, Accommodation, Competition and Collaboration.

The trick is to determine which of these tactics the other side is using and counter it effectively. Collaboration usually works best but if you're negotiating with somebody that is in competition, you'll actually be accommodating rather than collaborating. All four strategies have their uses and none will work in every situation. The end.

[Olga Tytsyak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was easy to read and interesting. I liked the simplicity of the EASY (Engage, Assess, Strategize, Your One Minute Drill) process and I am confident that mindful approach to each negotiation and quick review of the three-step One Minute Drill will render positive outcomes to negotiating parties and relationship between them overall.
It was interesting to assess my own tendency to use each if the negotiation strategies (Competition, Avoidance, Accommodation, and Collaboration) and to then compare my assessment with that of others.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short read setting forth the author's negotiation strategy through the story of Jay Baxter, a sales rep passed over for a promotion due to low profit margins. The "story" of Jay Baxter feels a lot like a late night infomercial but the negotiation concepts put forth are useful. The emphasis in this book is flexibility and recognizing what type of negotiator you and the other side are so that you get the best results out of your time.

[Tammy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author's idea for evaluating the negotiation situation before going into it with 3 simple steps makes sense to me. He gives clear strategies to negoatiate with depending on the other person's negotiation style.I liked the descriptions of person's needs to resolve the situations. The book is written for sales people but fits in other negotiations as well. The facts I liked but the story that the writer uses to bring out these points was annoying in places.

[Natalie W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read. Good stuff. If you are looking for exactly what you need to say in negotiations, you'll want a more in-depth book. The book is great at helping you understand what negotiation style you lean toward and how to approach each negotiation. I drug it out a little too long, reading in between other books, so I recommend reading it closer to all-at-once for maximum retention!

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another self-help career book with a story of some character implementing the authors' tool. In this case the Negotiation Matrix with 4 strategies: avoidance, accommodation, competition, and collaboration. To refresh or skim - read bullets at end of every chapter. That is enough to get an understanding of the book.

[Itasca Community Library]

Tuki says:

Found this to be a quick read with helpful and informative insight on the topic of negotiation. It was interesting to learn that there are 4 different styles of negotiation and once you can assess what type of negotiator you are you can recognize the type of negotiator you’re up against and proceed accordingly to maximize your negotiation power.

[Guillermo Baillères · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este es un libro muy sencillo y fácil de entender, en donde se explica una herramienta de “un minuto”, la cual ayuda a tener mayor probabilidad de salir exitosos de una negociación. La teoría/herramienta se explica en el libro a través de una historia, haciéndola así entretenida de leer y aun mas fácil de comprender.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This little book uses a kind of cheesy story to make its point, and the first quarter of it just meanders. It gets a bit better, but hardly special. The chart on page 47 and the negotiating styles on pages 82-87 are all I found worthwhile.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and to the point. Obviously it's not as easy as they make it out to be, but it gets you thinking in a new way. The book is written from a sales side perspective, so it was a little hard to relate to some scenarios, but overall worth a read.

[Brycep · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and easy reminder of how to prepare for negotiations of any type

[Ozzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Concentrates too much on sales based work.

[Brian Palmer]

This bookd made a positive impact right away. I understand myself, and others, better.

[David Gaprindashvili · Rating 3 out of 5]

great advises, but it could be written more briefly ...

[Dara · Rating 1 out of 5]

So unhelpful, don't waste your time.