Anchoring … “What a beautiful moment”

There’s so much incredible material written about the “Anchor Bias” and how this amazing phenomenon will impact your entire negotiation that I thought I would add to this body of intellectual understanding … then I decided not to!

[ps ... the "Anchor Bias"is when you rely too heavily on the first piece of information you receive making everything 'relative' to this position thereafter eg... The first Price stated".]

Instead I’m going to tell you about a “secret” to the Anchor tactic, or at least the bit most negotiators miss; so much so that it may as well be a secret.  So, this article is dedicated to that micro second moment, so key to the Anchor tactic that if you literally blink … you'll miss it entirely.

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Like every other negotiation tactic, the "Anchor" does not work in isolation.  Its tune is played in an orchestra of other tactics, environmental conditions and personal characteristics such as;

• Confidence of conviction
• Use of language
• Negotiation Planning/Strategy
• Assumptions
• Acute (absolute acute) Observation Skills
• The Range of Acceptability/ZOPA/Bargain Range
• Reserve Points/Walk Away/BATNA/Break Even Point
• Nerves
• Conditioning
• Self-awareness
• Acute Observation Skills (did I mention this before!)

That’s because having observed many many examples of this tactic (especially when practicing with Negotiation Cards) this is the one crucial moment that many inexperienced negotiators almost always overlook, perhaps because it also happens to be something you cannot learn through reading but only through experience!

For me negotiation is all about ‘moments’ and this tactic stands above all others as one of the greatest moments in any and all negotiations - that singular point in time when the Anchor has been pitched and how, in that split second after delivery, both parties react.

I am referring to our involuntary body language, the selection of words we utter, the intensity of our stares… these are musical instruments, playing together, leading us to “name that tune”.

Robert Cialdini, in his book “Pre-Suasion”, explains how the human brain can only focus on one thing at any single point of time and it does this by flicking between different channels of stimuli.

Oren Klaff, in his book “Pitch Anything”, suggested that we consider all information through a brain filter, the reptilian or croc-brain, that determines threats and decides how to react.  Side Note: we consider every proposal a threat so that our croc-brain reacts with:

• Fight
• Flight, or
• Freeze

Now consider what both these authors are suggesting and couple that with your own experience; it then becomes possible to appreciate at the precise moment the “Anchor” is sprung …all parties are literally unable to think of anything else for a split second… while our brains absorb and involuntarily react to the message.  Our body language is all “crocodile” brain, unthinking, spontaneous, at its most vulnerable and in most cases available for reading; but blink and you will miss it! 

Because for just that fraction of a second our clever brain is locked out; unfortunately for some unpractised negotiators, that period of time can last a lot longer!

Take note; in that singularly critical moment, we enter a “calculation” phase with our involuntary response measured in degrees by which the Anchor is acceptable, and this is entirely subjective to what each party believes is its most “optimum” outcome and its “walk-away” point.

Keeping it simple there are 4 principle, involuntary, judgements our brain will question and compute:

Q: Is the Anchor….

A – Comfortably within our acceptable range

B – Just within our acceptable range

C – Just outside our acceptable range

D – Beyond any range of our acceptability

Now remember, this graphic above is the full ZOPA (Zone Of Possible Outcomes as explained by Deepak Malhotra in his great book "Negotiation Genius").  In reality you may never have the ‘full’ picture, but you “should” always be intermit with your own positions.  With that said, ignorant of all other facts, what's really going through the brain of the receiving party looks a little more like this:

Once the reptilian brain has filtered that moment our thoughtful brain begins to play a number of emotional musical compositions such as...

• [Preparedness] I’m not listening, I have a different number in mind
• [Comfort/Accepting] I can live with that
• [Comfort/Ego] I can live with that, but I want a lot more
• [Comfort/Conviction] I can live with that, but I want to try for some more
• [Discomfort/Distraction] I can’t live with that, but it’s only just out of reach
• [Discomfort/Resignation] I can’t live with that and it’s much too far to reach

It's in these moments when the party submitting the Anchor has the best opportunities to determine the A, B, C, D and Walk Away points through gauging all the overt, covert and subliminal messages the other party gives.

It takes acute observational skills so you must feel “in-the-moment” when delivering the Anchor as you will rarely be able to walk that moment back and an absolutely critical opportunity has passed you by.

Mistakes are more common than you realise.  Just a few of these “in-the-moment” Anchor mistakes include:

• Only focussing on what you are saying or about to say
• Observation Failures
• Wrong/Soft Language
• Incorrect reading of signals
• Making assumptions (and not testing them)
• Falling for a Professional Flinch
• No research
• Not practicing with Negotiation Cards

And one last thing.... Exceptionally, well-practiced negotiators will not only be able to play their emotional musical composition at will, thereby giving you the exact message THEY want you to hear, but they will be observing YOU to unravel what your Anchor proposal is telling them about YOUR position .... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Summary…

• There is absolutely no doubt, in my mind, the power of this tactic/phenomenon to set the scope of any negotiation and you will do well to be as prepared as possible for all reactions.
• That preparation can not be achieved by reading along, it is achieved through the specific practice of this tactic and I can assure you that your practice payback will make you a fervent observer of all personal interactions at all levels.
• But if you do miss your "moment" … all is not lost. You can, of course, quickly move on to play the traditional role of the Anchor … the ‘Anchor Bias’ and re-join the extensive Intellectual Understand already articulated in so many published articles and let our Anchor ‘secret’ remain a ‘secret’ after all.

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NEGOTIATION CARDS - The only resource you can really practice this tactic again and again and again to hone your observational, body reading skills.  They could be the difference between no deal, a good deal, a great deal or a miserable, painful disaster!

Go to www.thenegotiationclubs.com/shop to order your set now!

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I sincerely welcome comments to keep me on the right track so if you agree or disagree then feed that back and if you want to become more confident negotiators then … get in touch!

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