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P RINCIPLES OF N EGOTIA TION

with appropriate favorable newspaper articles, reports from appar-
ently authoritative sources and favorable handpicked comparable
properties.Createadvertisements or media which stress “last avail-
able units,” “builder’s closeout,” “final reduction,” “special offer,”
“one of a kind,” or something equivalent that will createtheaura
you desire. Use your imagination but everything must be plausible
to be effective.

PRINCIPLE 3: EVERY NEGOTIATION
REQUIRES PREPLANNING

In Chapter 1, I described how Donald Trump uses “Ziff’s Principle
of Least Effort,” which states that people will expend the least
amount of effort necessary to conclude any transaction. This dove-
tails perfectly with the power of preplanning in a negotiation. Most
people either don’t know how to preplan for a negotiation or even if
they have the requisite knowledge are too lazy to spend the time
doing so. This is always a huge and often a costly mistake. If you can
anticipate the questions you may be asked in a negotiation then you
can structure the most plausible and favorable responses to them.
At the beginning of a negotiation, what you say and how you say
it can be tailored for maximum effect. For example, the ability to
give a prompt well-conceived answer to a sensitive question elicits a
feeling of satisfaction in the questioner. Although you may have
practiced an answer before the question was raised, preplanning per-
mits you to deliver the response with spontaneity as if you just
thought of it. You can say: “How about this idea?” or “I just thought
of something that might work.” The fact that your impromptu man-
ner of thinking is similar to theirs creates an atmosphere of comfort
and mutual trust. Preplanning should also include finding newspaper
or magazine articles to reinforce any of your positions. Statistics

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