The eighth chapter of Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss is called “Guarantee Execution.” In this chapter, Chris talks more about some human psychology and how sometimes things go wrong. He starts out by pointing out that often times negotiations fall through or have large hiccups not due to the negotiation itself, but because execution will be off. Imagine you are a sales associate for a company. You go through all the sales negotiation with a client, just to find out that a crucial step the client asked for cannot be delivered upon. Since you could not execute, you can’t get the sale. A yes is nothing without how.
Voss then goes on to describe a few different rules of thumb he uses in a negotiation. The first is the 7-38-55 ratio, which states that 7% of communication is what you say, 38% of communication is how you say it, and 55% of communication is your body language and facial expressions. This is why Chris always prefers to negotiate face to face.
Chris then states that there are 3 kinds of yesses. The first is a commitment yes, which is what you really want at the end of a negotiation. The second is a confirmation yes, which just means the other party agrees with you, and the last is a counterfeit yes. In order to combat counterfeit yesses, Chris recommends the rule of three. Get the other party to agree to something three times in a single conversation by varying up how you ask the question. Beware of the phrase “I’ll try” which really means “I plan to fail.”
Chris then ends with some more final thoughts about liars. People who are lying tend to use third person pronouns to distance themselves from the lie as well as try harder to convince the other party that what they are saying is true. Because of this, a liar’s sentences will be longer than typically needed, just like Pinocchio’s nose.
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