Negotiating Deals

A book that has been on my reading list for a while now is "Never Split the Difference" by Chris Voss. Having listened to it twice on audio and now thoughtfully reading through it with highlighter in hand, it is required reading for anyone making a deal or involved in sales. I recently completed an acquisition of a relatively small HVAC company. Without a doubt, had the skills taught by Mr. Voss been in my arsenal, I would have uncovered key facts and been better prepared and certainly negotiated a better price. Note that uncovering information is highlighted. Our tendency is to think of price as being what matters most; perhaps first. But think of how this applies to due diligence - getting a seller to reveal details of what is going on in the business that will either help us with the price or may tell us that we don't want to do the deal at all. Highly recommend.