Secret 4-letter Word in Negotiations
Old Reliable 'Flinch' with a Twist
1-Minute Summary:
There's nothing I've written in my more than 30 years of career consulting that's had more staying power than the "secret 4-letter word."
In addition to being at the heart of salary making rule #3 (of 5) inNegotiating Your Salary How to Make a $1,000 a Minute, It's been a mainstay on my salary negotiations website, more than a decade old now, where it continues to tickle the curiosity of thousands of vistors each month.
It's a simple but extremely effective negotiation tactic I call 'The Flinch' The full text of my original article appears after this one and I've added a couple of ways you can check out its effectiveness for yourself.
Full Article - The Secret 4-Letter Word in Negotiations
There's nothing I've written in my more than 30 years of career consulting that's had more staying power than the "secret 4-letter word."
It's a simple but extremely effective negotiation tactic I call 'The Flinch' (the original article I wrote years ago follows this one).
In addition to being at the heart of salary making rule #3 (of 5) in Negotiating Your Salary How to Make a $1,000 a Minute, It's been a mainstay on my salary negotiations website, more than a decade old now, where it continues to tickle the curiosity of thousands of vistors each month.
Like much of what's invloved in selling, whether it's yourself or the idea of someone hiring you, it's really more psychological than anything else. It's what a professional sales trainer might refer to as an "interrupt." It's magical power, if you will, comes with the fact that it's not what people expect.It takes the interviewer, or potential employer in this case, totally off guard and off script. And right there, bam, you've gained a lot of power in the process. And if there's one thing all successful sales people can tell you, it's this: unless you can seize control of the sales process while making it seem as though the "buyer" has all the power, you're going to lose a lot more sales than you should.
Now, back to the secret four letter word. I usually open with this tease: What's a four letter word that:
- Has no vowels
- You won't find in the dictionary and
- Makes you money every time you use it in salary negotiations?
And the answer is (drum roll, please): H-M-M-M or "Hmmm."
Again, it's a tactic for not saying anything, or keeping silent, which is the real strategy behind salary making rule #3. That's because nothing good (for you, anyway) can come from tipping your hand one way or the other. Even if you were absolutely elated with the offer you just heard, any expression to that effect will have your future employer thinking they've over-paid. That's because no one in their right mind leads off a negotiation with thier top number - why would you, it's a negotiation. Like I said, jumping out of your chair - not good.
Let's say on the other hand, you're totally underwhelmed by the fact that they're not even in the ball park and you fall out of your chair instead - how is that any better?. If that's the case, you've both entered into the negotiation phase of a pending employment decision under false pretenses and you're just waisting each other's time - not good either. If this was actually the case, my advice would be to start back at the beginning with another opportunity an this time don't leave out salary making rules #1 and #2.
But let's say you've handled everything right up until this point i.e. no surprises, you already know that the range they're considering for the position is acceptable. The whole point of salary negotiations from your perspective is to convince who you hope is your future employer that the kind of value adding that you bring to the table entitles you to the upper end of the range. The best way to do that, at this point, is to keep them guessing and just a little nervous. Then you know, the numbers are only going up from here.
So that's Old Reliable - the secret 4-letter word. But I promised you a new twist. What follows are a couple of ways to practice its value to get (closer to) what you want in other circumstances. That way, you won't be a total newbie when you need it in salary negotiations. By then, you'll be totally confident as to its effectiveness.
So here are two ways to have the 4-letter word pay off for you even if salary negotiations or nowhere in your forseeable future:
- You've just been quoted a price on any product or service but you feel there's some wiggle room. Instead of an immediate yeas or no, after a pause that's just long enough to be a bit uncomfortable, stroke your chin and let out a Hmmm and see if the price doesn't drop... or
- You've just been asked to volunteer for something or a friend has just asked for a pretty big favor, try the same approach and see if the project or favor being proposed doesn't become all of a sudden smaller or easier.
Best of luck to you in all your endevours. If you have the time, send an email and let me know how the secret 4-letter word worked for you.
The Flinch
WHAT'S A...
--FOUR-LETTER WORD
--YOU USE EVERY DAY
--WITH NO VOWELS
--NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY
--AND WHEN USED CORRECTLY IN NEGOTIATIONS WILL PUT DOLLARS IN YOUR POCKET EVERY TIME?
You'll find the answer in the 4th paragraph, below.
"OK."
Bam! Those two letters just cost you plenty! Can you tell how much they cost you? Choose one: those two letters...
A) flushed your new $1,000 stereo system down the toilet;
B) ripped off your $3,000 Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB) desktop computer system;
C) canceled your reservations for a $5,000 two-week dream trip to an exotic location;
D) burned the blueprints for the $10,000 addition to your house;
E) yanked your kid out of college because you were $25K short.
How could that one word be so powerful? Easy. "Okay" is what most people say in response to a salary offer. They mean "I'll accept what you've just offered, thank you."
Depending on where your salary is to begin with, you could lose A, B, C, D, or E. But you could also keep it, and more besides, if you learn even one small negotiating technique: change the "Okay" to a "Hmmm," and watch what happens.
If you're at minimum wage and the employer says, "$4.65 an hour," an "Okay" will freeze it right there. But a "Hmmm" response could increase it, and just 50 cents an hour more will earn you $1,000 extra in a year of 40-hour weeks. That's easily a fine new stereo system--or a year's car insurance--or a month's rent on a great apartment.
The same goes for all other levels, too. A simple "Hmmm" instead of "Okay" can change a $25,000 salary into $28,000 and finance your new computer system. $45,000 can be pushed to $50,000, affording you that much-needed two-week vacation.
The "Hmmm" response can drop another ten grand in the bank for high-level executives, and senior-level execs can buy a $25K freshman year for a daughter or son by swallowing the "Okay."
Anybody can manage that swallow, so anybody can negotiate a better salary. Sometimes hourly-wage earners think "Salary negotiation is for the big shots."
Not true. In fact, it's easier to negotiate more at the hourly-wage level than practically anywhere else. Why? Perspective! An extra $.50, $1, or even a $3-$5 an hour increase seldom exceeds a company's phone bill! From your perspective, it's a ten- to fifty-percent raise. From their perspective, an extra fifty cents an hour costs them only as much as an extra hour of long-distance calls a week--something most businesses do without a second thought.
Don't worry that the employer will change his or her mind about hiring you just because you ask for more. If you've interviewed well (and you must have done that, or you wouldn't be getting an offer!), you're the front runner already. Choosing the second best, or going through the whole recruiting-interviewing-hiring process again, will cost a company much more than $1,000 - $5,000 anyway in the long run. Odds are, you'll get that little extra, and the employer will still consider it a good bargain to avoid that hassle.
And what's the worst that happens if you don't? Your new boss will know that you believe you're worth more and treat you better.
Besides, you probably aren't even pushing employers higher than they expected to go anyway. Good managers always start low to give themselves negotiating room. They might even really want to give you more, but if you say, "Okay," you tie their hands! There is no gracious way for them to raise the offer.
Changing "Okay" to "Hmmm" is rule number three of the five salary-making rules contained in the book *Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1000 a Minute.* As stated in the book, rule three is, "When you hear the figure or range, repeat the figure or top of the range, and then be quiet."
This "contemplative" first response to an offer can be called a "flinch." Even if you're so excited about the offer that you're ready to dance a jig, make your first response a flinch!
How do you carry off an effective flinch? First, make sure you repeat the figure they give you before going into the "contemplative" routine. (That way the interviewer knows you haven't fallen asleep or tuned him out!) Then, you say something like, "Hmmm," or, "$X/hour? Hmmm. Isn't that a little low?" Or, "$X/hour. Hmm, is that the best you can do?"
Paradoxically, when you do this, you don't just get more money from your potential employer; you make him or her feel better about it, too!
How's that possible?
Well, say you're selling a car. Mr. Buyer asks, "How much do you want for the car?" You say, "$8,500." If he says "Sold!" right away, how do you feel? What's your first thought? Right! You think, "Phooey! He agreed too quickly. I was too low. I could have gotten more!"
Now notice what happens if he flinches and says, "Hmmm, is that the best you can do?" You say, "Yes. I have done my research; that's a good deal on this car; its the best I can do." By the time you close the deal, you still get $8,500, but you also get the inner satisfaction of winning in the negotiations by sticking to your price.
But the chances are, your future employer won't come back with a "Yes, I've done my research," etc. Instead, he'll offer a bit extra to sweeten the pot--he's got room to give a little, remember?--and you'll both come out ahead. You, with more cash in hand; the employer, with a heightened respect for you.
While it's true, then, that "Anybody can negotiate salary," it's more true to say, "Everyone should negotiate salary." No matter what your level, there's easy money to be made by changing "Okay" to "Hmmm." Whether you're a hamburger flipper, or a shift supervisor of burger flippers, or an executive negotiating a regional marketing position for a burger-flipping chain, don't say, "Okay"; say, "Hmmm."
P.S. What you've just read focuses only on rule three of five salary negotiating rules found in To get the absolutely best shot at winning in your negotiations, be sure to snag a copy of from http://www.salarynegotiations.com/Get%20the%20Book.htm along with some bonuses so you can learn all five rules: --When to discuss salary, --Who goes first --Your first response --How to research your market value, --How to add bennies and perks, getting it in writing, etc. --and special situations, negotiating a raise, and more. For now, remember, just saying "Hmmm" instead of "Okay" could boost your money 10% right off the bat.
'Negotiating Your Salary'
now on Kindle
 Jack's long-time best seller on salary negotiations (Negotiating Your Salary - How to Make $1,000 a Minute), originally published 25 years ago and now in its 7th edition, is now available on Kindle.
This is more important to many in salary negotiations than you may at first think. So many of Jack's clients kick themselves for going into a negotiation interview totally unprepared - and now you can take in the Lightening Round in Jack's book and add thousands to your pay check even if you only have an hour or two.
Now there's no excuse: you can literally download the "bible" of salary negotiations to your Kindle or other reading device while you're on the train!
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