Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It with Brandon Voss

January 16, 2024

The Guest

Since Black Swan’s inception in 2008, Brandon has established assessment procedures for new clients that take their needs, situations, and corporate culture into account so Black Swan’s approach can be customized to each client.

Brandon is the thought leader at Black Swan regarding negotiator types. He has made it his to mission teach clients how to identify the basic types of negotiators and has developed a methodology for dealing with each type in the most successful way.

Brandon’s background is in sales. He has done retail sales for Macy’s and business-to-business sales for Verizon. Based on his extensive experience with various selling approaches he has been instrumental in adapting the FBI hostage negotiation techniques to the business world. Realizing that the timetable is different in the business world than in high-stakes hostage situations, he created the “Short Game” – a needs assessment procedure that helps in the critical discovery process phase of negotiation.

In addition to training clients, Brandon has guest lectured at USC Marshall School of Business, Georgetown McDonough School of Business and organizations like Policy Innovators in Education.

The Episode

This week’s episode is all about business negotiation strategies, the key to empathy, and ways to build trust instantly.

Brandon discusses the differences between haggling and negotiation, negotiation techniques that can be applied to relationships, and practical tips for day to day life.

Brandon leaves listeners with the advice, “Don’t treat people how you want to be treated. Treat them how they deserve to be treated.”