Negotiation must always be conducted in good faith, however, there are umpteen people who do not subscribe to this notion. Therefore, in order to negate the effect of their dirty tricks, it is imperative that you can identify situations where these ‘dirty tricks’ are being applied against you. 

Here are some ‘dirty tricks’ that are widely utilised by negotiators:- 

𝟏. 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚’𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐱: If the negotiator is not getting the desired outcome, they will unnecessarily attempt to reopen the already settled points of the agenda. It is used with the aim to apply pressure on the opposite party in order to induce them to submit to the undesirable terms. However, if the points of the agenda are interconnected, one must not construe such an act to be a dirty trick. 

𝟐. 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐫: The negotiator refuses to engage in proceedings right before an agreement is about to be signed. This is done in order to profit from some last minute concession(s). Extra perks or concessions are merited in favour of the adverse negotiator because a sunk-cost effect takes place in the mind of the opposite party. The opposite party factors in all the resources that have already been utilised and will be wasted if the proceedings fail. Therefore, they are willing to give something extra to reach a final settlement.

𝟑. 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭, 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐡: The negotiator initially announces that they have complete power to reach a settlement but as soon as they are faced with a difficult proposition, they conveniently disclose that while they would do anything to resolve the dispute, they are under strict compulsions or can not exceed the scope of their instructions. This puts a bogus ceiling on the settlement amount and pushes the other party to believe that this is the best offer they will receive and that they should accept it.

“I was authorised to settle for a maximum of *insert amount* and while I would love to increase my settlement offer, my superiors will not allow it under any circumstances.” is one illustration of this trick.