Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It
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Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 43,376 ratings

A former international hostage negotiator for the FBI offers a new field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations - whether in the boardroom or at home.

After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a hostage negotiator brought him face-to-face with a range of criminals, including bank robbers and terrorists. Reaching the pinnacle of his profession, he became the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator.

Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss' head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues succeed where it mattered most: in saving lives. In this practical guide, he shares the nine effective principles - counterintuitive tactics and strategies - you, too, can use to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal lives.

Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car, negotiating a salary, buying a home, renegotiating rent, deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.

Product details

Listening Length 8 hours and 7 minutes
Author Chris Voss
Narrator Michael Kramer
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date May 17, 2016
Publisher HarperAudio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B01COR1GM2
Best Sellers Rank #84 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#1 in Communication Skills
#1 in Business Negotiating (Books)
#2 in Negotiating

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
43,376 global ratings
Saved a full 7% or $4,000 on car of my dreams since I was a boy!!! Best book you'll ever buy!
5 Stars
Saved a full 7% or $4,000 on car of my dreams since I was a boy!!! Best book you'll ever buy!
I seldom go out of my way to write reviews, but have to do this in this case!!! I first listened to the audible audio version of this book. I liked the general ideas and the way everything was described, but hated the cockiness of the author and how he primarily spent time on talking about how great he is. Nevertheless, I remembered some of the key lessons and thought I'd apply them the next time I'd buy something of significant value.Well, that moment started around 3 weeks ago when I found the car I loved, priced at $55,900. After viewing the car and test-driving it, I thought I would actually pay full asking price for it because I had done my homework and it was already the cheapest car of that type in the entire US. I also attentively listened to the car salesman, who applied many of the tricks that Chris Voss mentioned in his book. However, I was prepared."Hey so are you going to do this? I have a guy come in from 150 miles away tomorrow morning."- I would love to, the car is great. But it simply is too much money for me. Can you get me closer to $50,000?"The best price I can do is 53,900."- I called him back saying: thanks man, you're really awesome and thanks for trying for me, but this is out of budget for me."The guy just came by (that was Monday morning at 11am) and he's just getting his financing in place now. Are you still interested?"- At this point I knew he just made that up because with traffic, the guy would not have made it 150 miles far and already have given him a positive answer on Monday morning, so I responded and said: The absolute maximum I can afford is $51,150 (extreme anchor and odd number as suggested by the author).- I also threw in non-monetary rewards to the deal promising him that I would write him 5-star reviews on all automotive platforms if he could meet that price.He responded the best he'd be willing to do was $52,400.- I again thanked him for trying and said I understood as it was a great car but it was too much for me and he should keep me posted if anything changed.He did not respond, so I took two (nervous) days and avoided "bidding against myself" as Voss names it. I then noticed that the price suddenly went up from the listed $55,900 on the website to $63,900 and was worried he might have found a buyer. I contacted him again and said: hey, just wanted to check if the owner changed his mind perhaps and approved the $51,150.- He responded saying that the owner had given the car into auction which were giving strong sales, but he could bring it back for me, if I could make a stronger offer.I did NOT make a stronger offer and just mentioned that I felt we were really close to getting deal done.- He basically responded: $51,900 and it's yours, nothing left to negotiate.- I agreed within 10 minutes and asked how to get him paid ASAP to reserve the car. I will be picking it up later this week.If you made it this far: this $15 audio-book/ $9 printed book (which I have since given to three of my sales people in my company) saved me $4,000, even though I was willing to pay list-price. I cannot tell you how proud I am of this, especially since I don't enjoy being perceived as "cheap". However, I feel super good about the savings who will pay for gas/ insurance and make the deprecitation when I will try to sell the car in the future felt so so so much less. Thanks @Chris Voss!
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2020
Everything we assumed we knew was wrong” (p.26), we are not rational, compromise is terrible, and “No” is the answer to getting what you want in and out of the office. These are all concepts that the reader can be expected to wholeheartedly believe and understand by the end of this book. Former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss hit the mark with this book, sharing effective tips and tools for negotiating in and beyond your workspace. “Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as Your Life Depends on It” is a 5-star read for those trying to enhance their “deal making skills” whether that be with work or personal relationships.
Prior to 2008, Chris Voss was the lead international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI. According to The Black Swan Group, through his 28 year with the Bureau, he was trained in negotiation by the FBI, Scotland Yard and Harvard Law School. Chris has taught business negotiation in the MBA program in several of the world’s best universities and business programs. Voss continues to host seminars and attend guest lectures and is rumored to be working on additional books.
“Never Split the Difference”, a euphemism for “never compromise” because compromise on the street often leads to the loss of lives, Was published in May of 2016 and is an extremely powerful book that tells the stories of negotiation when you really can’t afford to lose, like in a situation where you are negotiating for the lives of others. Each chapter includes engaging theories on communication and actionable recommendations on how to improve your communication skills, while telling intriguing stories of the life of an FBI agent. These stories include bank robberies, terrorists and a bunch of different “bad guys”. This book will not only help your business deals, but your personal relationships as well. Voss gives us more than just the advice on what to do, he shows us why they work as well.
This book is a fun read full of useful information. The new concepts in every chapter had me highlighting the techniques and lessons that I truly wanted to remember. The most important to me, being that you should never be so eager to solve a conflict that’s result is inconvenient for you. Accepting bad deals is almost always a mistake. Compromise isn’t always the answer, while pushing for a hard “yes” doesn’t get you any closer to a victory, it only angers the other party. And finally, “Driving towards “that's right” is a winning strategy in all negotiations. But hearing “you're right” is a disaster.” (p. 105)
Overall this is a wonderful book that teaches the reader that negotiation, at its core, is nothing more than conversations with reactions and results. Getting what you need from others will help set up the rest of your life. Chriss Voss will teach you how to take authority and show dominance in the conversations that will make or break your career. Because of the strong lessons in this book, I believe it would be a great book for most young people to read. Whether they are beginning their college career or creating their own blue-collar business, “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss is a great resource for people looking to better their life without looking for a designated “self-help” book. Remember: “... without self-control and emotional regulation…” (p 156) these strategies will not work.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2024
Such an excellent read on negotiation, practical to implement and very relatable. Great read for commerce or entrepreneurship students and covers negotiating in a collaborative setting.

Thoroughly enjoyed the FBI application as well as the behavioral psychology focus which provides interesting and thought provoking insights into the practical application of the authors methods.

Whether you are renegotiating your rent or buying a new car, these tools and techniques can provide you the upper hand.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2017
Sometimes I feel like I buy books more often than I actually read book. It's not that I don't like reading, I do. I also love the idea of reading.

That said, this book was something that once I started reading, I couldn't put down. Chris Voss is a master in the art of negotiation, and his steps are both simple enough to follow and understand, but also tied to real world examples he talks about. In every chapter he talks about some of his biggest failures and greatest successes, and how he took to negotiation and the concepts that came with it.

If you want a story, while I was reading this book, I was going through a very tough point in my career. For several years I had worked in a department that was basically seen as the baby in the company, on a side-project that while lucrative had just 30 clients where our main products had over 1,000. My boss for years barely noticed me or what we did in our department, he managed two products himself, the bigger of the two in the larger customer base. For 3 years, I basically ran everything in the department, doing what I needed to do, being the go-to for people well above my role in anything my product needed. I enjoyed it. Eventually the company started to take note of this products success, and wanted to ramp it up. My boss, eager to take credit for the departments success, started taking a more active role, despite having almost little to no understanding of what we actually did. He was making questionable decisions and often impossible requests that highlighted just how little he knew. He was impossible to work with in this, because he was very much a my-way-or-the-highway kind of guy when it came to management, and would get frustrated by anything other than a firm yes to a request. In short, he was tanking the department I sunk my last 3 years in, and making my life miserable having to constantly either shoulder or make up for his unusual requests. Everything became a fight, including at one point a simple request for me to focus my time on a large project for a client I was traveling to visit in 3 days became a no (because it wasn't his idea) and ended with him hurling papers around the room and throwing me out of his office. He was a bad manager, a traffic cop who you'd only hear from when he thought you were doing something wrong, but like many people can relate to, he was also *my* manager, and he wasn't going anywhere. I had to do something about it.

The book had many situations that related to the situation I was going into. A stubborn, unreasonable person, but at least they weren't holding anyone at random. In many ways, I was doing things that may have seemed like to my boss that I was undermining him. Chris Voss talks about the same story of a brilliant young agent who earned the ire of a field office director (and that agents direct supervisor) for a similar situation. Chris talked about a situation where the agent came to him for help in needing to discuss with their boss a request they knew would have sank like a lead balloon on any good day. I was in that same situation. Chris described the techniques needed to discuss the issue with their boss. It worked.

I tried the same techniques. The next time an impossible request came through, I discussed it with my manager. I started with "I'm sorry," one of the things Chris talks about in his book. I followed in so many words with "how am I supposed to do that?" I made my problem *his* problem. It was now his job and his responsibility to solve the issue he presented in his request. All without him knowing that just happened. It sounds so deceptively stupid, I thought starting off with "I'm sorry" and asking "how am I supposed to do that?" would be seen as oppositional, but you know what? It actually worked. He didn't know how to solve the problem he just gave me. We talked about it and floated solutions, and I planted the seeds in his head on alternatives, using other techniques described in the book. The discussion ended with him basically saying "that's right" and I got the solution I wanted out of the situation, and in the end, my boss left with the impression that it was his idea. That manager and I still never got along very well, and eventually he moved away from my department completely, but at least I had the tools needed for him and I to be able to communicate and work together.

I'd have to thank Chriss Voss. The techniques in my book in my situation didn't save anybody's life from a kidnapper or get a bank robber to stand down, but it probably saved my career. This book is for everybody.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Andréa Longhi Simões Almeida
5.0 out of 5 stars Conhecimento muito agregador de valor
Reviewed in Brazil on November 5, 2022
Análise crítica das principais técnicas de negociação. Ótima leitura
Alejandra
5.0 out of 5 stars Información valiosa para mi negocio
Reviewed in Mexico on March 6, 2022
Es el mejor libro que he leído para guiarme y ayudarme en mi emprendimiento. Propone técnicas complejas pero de una manera práctica, lo difícil es recalibrar tu mente a abrazar el conflicto en lugar de huir, esa es la base de la negociación. Y si ese no es tu carácter, como yo, hay mucho trabajo que hacer. Definitivamente se vuelve mi libro de cabecera de ahora en adelante.
2 people found this helpful
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Florian
5.0 out of 5 stars Echt sehr viel gelernt!
Reviewed in Germany on April 23, 2024
Nur in der Anwendung muss ich das ganze auf jeden Fall noch üben.
Aber auf jeden Fall sehr mächtige Informationen!
Maya
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in Belgium on April 22, 2024
Ce livre devrait être lu par tous.
Négocier est indispensable dans notre vie
Chandrashekar kunder
5.0 out of 5 stars Mind blowing book with practical steps on Negotiation
Reviewed in India on April 22, 2024
I really liked the book
This book is an eye opener on human behaviour
Nice stories
Practical steps to follow
I would recommend reading this book multiple time to understand the concepts deeply
Awesome tricks shared
2 people found this helpful
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