How to Ask for More and Get It

“How To Ask For More And Get It is not, as the title might suggest, a book for the greedy, pursuing compulsive and unrealistic dreams of acquiring more worldly wealth. Rather, it is designed to help the average person get his due in the thousands of exchanges, both mundane and important, that punctuate his or her life,” says Francis Greenburger and Thomas Kiernan.

All of us are confronted daily with countless exchanges, both ordinary and extraordinary, the outcomes of which largely define the quality of our lives. In fact, the Exchange is the single most frequent and important process of our interpersonal existence. Negotiation is the art of consistently turning these exchanges to one’s advantage, and this book shows how to master this art.

Using examples from real-life situations, the authors show you how to develop your basic negotiating skills—how to state your criteria, who makes the first move, what tactics to use, how to set your goals and establish a strategy—in short, how to win!

Whether you are an employee bargaining for a raise, the tenant applying for a lease, the homeowner planning an expansion, the spouse settling a quarrel, a man with an attractive young lady in mind…whether you are the layman or the professional, this book will teach you how to make the most of the exchanges which touch every facet of your life.

“Imagine yourself in any of the following situations:

You are about to walk into a realtor’s office to make an offer on your dream house or to rent the apartment you’ve finally found after months of searching…

You are about to sit down with your spouse’s lawyer to discuss the financial terms of your impending divorce…

Tomorrow you are to appear for you final interview with a company you feel sure will offer you the job you have been seeking, at which your salary and other benefits will be decided…

You are about to sit down with an auditor from the IRS…

The “bottom line” of such exchanges is that we either gain or lose by them, financially and otherwise. Motivated by our innate self-interest, we naturally hope to acquire more than we give away. More often than not, however, we end up losing more than we gain. Why? Because we do not know how to negotiate our needs, our rights, our hopes, and our wishes…”

Francis Greenburger operates an extremely successful New York real estate business—a milieu in which the negotiator’s art is severely tested and sharply honed. Recently, he expanded his interest to include the publishing world and now operates an equally successful literary agency—another pursuit in which negotiating is the key to success. This is his first book.

Thomas Kiernan was an editor for many years. He is also the author of fourteen previous books.