General questions about negotiation
Can people really improve as negotiators—isn’t it something you’re born with or not?
It’s true: some people seem to be natural born negotiators. But that doesn’t mean things are hopeless for the rest of us. At Negotiable, we see negotiations as involving a series of choices: How should you open? Where should you concede? When should you say yes or walk away? Importantly, we also see preparing to negotiate as a series of choices. Before coming to the table, you can choose to define success, to articulate your preferences and priorities, to take your counterpart’s point of view. So negotiating, and preparing to negotiate, involves many choices … and you can learn to make different choices, regardless of whether or not you are a natural born negotiator. Many people find that even some modest changes in their choices, and some shifts in how they think about negotiations, make a big difference in their outcomes and comfort level. Helping you make these changes is the goal of Negotiable.
I don’t negotiate very often—is it worth trying to improve?
As we stress in Episode 1 and throughout the series, negotiation is everywhere. Every time you deal with another person who doesn’t want the exact same things as you, but you need them to say "yes," to get on board with a plan before moving ahead, you’re negotiating. And the same general principles that apply to formal bargaining, or work-related negotiations, also apply to conflicts and problem-solving in our personal lives. So the answer to this question is: Definitely yes. It’s worth improving your skills in negotiation, in part because it cuts across all areas of life.
Is negotiation, and Negotiable, mostly about lies, aggression, and dirty tricks?
Some negotiators regularly lie, play hardball, and/or rely on tactics that stretch or break standards many people have for their own or others’ behavior. The bad news is that such counterparts probably cannot be entirely avoided. But the good news, for many people, is that you do not need to violate or lower your standards, or resort to dirty tricks, to be an effective negotiator. The practices described in Negotiable can help you hold your ground and resist being exploited but they do not revolve around taking advantage of or exploiting others.
Questions about Negotiable
How should I use Negotiable?
How you use Negotiable depends on the situation you’re in. You may be part of a team with a group leader setting your learning path. You might be charting your own course through our materials. Or you might use Negotiable as a reference on an as-needed basis. See our How to Use section for more details on the components of Negotiable and how you can put them together to fit your own goals and situation.
Is there any evidence behind your guidance?
The past half-century has seen a tremendous amount of social science research on negotiations along with an accumulation of insights captured by practitioners. Our content builds on this foundation. We have also conducted extensive research of our own, examining the habits of everyday negotiators as well as experts and linking those behaviors and practices to outcomes ranging from satisfaction with deal terms to post-bargaining relationships. See our section on Research to learn more about our findings.
Who created Negotiable?
To learn more about the people behind Negotiable, see About Us
Questions about the episodes
Are there more episodes forthcoming?
Work on additional episodes is ongoing. Registered users will be notified when additional episodes are released.
Can I access episodes off-line?
Our episodes are not currently available offline.
Can I show episodes to a group?
Negotiable is designed for individual accounts, with each user able to complete Assessments and Concept Checks. However, as we describe in our How to Use section, teaming up with others can vastly increase the learning value of the experience. Episodes can be shown in groups only in cases where all viewers have Negotiable accounts.
Do I have to watch the episodes in order?
Our current episodes work as a sequence, with some points in later episodes building off of ideas or examples introduced in earlier episodes. In particular, our first five episodes are a critical foundation for the rest of our series and are best watched in order. That said, you’re free to view episodes in any order you wish—skipping ahead or looping back as you see fit. If you want to zero in on our core ideas without working through the episodes, have a look at our Conceptual Overview page, which presents diagrams outlining key concepts and practices. You might also consult our Highlights and Good Practices page for a list of approaches we recommend.
Questions about Concept Checks
What are Concept Checks?
Concept Checks allow viewers to gauge how well they are internalizing and understanding the content presented in our episodes. After selected episodes, users are welcome to complete a Concept Check which entails a handful of multiple choice questions. With each question, users are told if their response is correct or, if it’s incorrect, the correct answer is identified.
Do I have to complete the Concept Checks?
Concept Checks are encouraged but not necessary for moving ahead to view additional episodes. If you’re setting your own learning path, you can decide whether or not to include them. If a group leader is setting a learning path for you, you can see if they have asked you to complete Concept Checks along the way.
Questions about Assessments
What are Assessments?
Assessments ask users to report on their typical habits and attitudes about negotiation. Whereas Concept Checks ask specific questions about our content, with right and wrong answers, Assessments gauge styles and approaches, providing feedback in the form of reports that compare an individual user’s responses to those of negotiators in general as well as expert negotiators. We currently offer two Assessments. The Habits and Practices Assessment gauges typical negotiation behaviors. The Attitudes Assessment gauges how people think and feel about negotiating. See our Assessments section for more details.
Can I do Assessments multiple times?
Yes! Indeed, we encourage users to complete our assessments before starting to review our episodes. We also urge users to take those assessments again later, after having worked through the material and applied some of the practices we recommend. Assessments are intended to be a way of gauging progress.
Do I have to complete Assessments?
If you’re setting your own learning path, you can decide whether or not, and when, to do assessments. If a group leader is setting a learning path for you, you can see if they have asked you to complete assessments along the way.
Questions about account & registration
How can I get a refund?
We offer refunds within 30 days of purchase to individual subscribers who purchased access with a credit card. Refunds are issued as a credit back to the original credit card. The associated Negotiable account will be deleted when the refund is processed. To request a refund, send an email to refund@negotiableguide.com from the email account used for purchase.
How can I get Negotiable accounts for members in my organization?
See our For Organizations page for details on how organizations can use Negotiable. Sign up to become an Account Manager to review Negotiable and get access to purchase licenses for an organization.
How can I get a Negotiable account for myself?
If you aren’t a subscriber yet, click on My Account in the menu. There, you’ll have the option to enter credit card details and purchase a subscription.