Chris Voss - Negotiation Tactics From An Ex-FBI Hostage Negotiator

Episode details

Today we are talking to Chris Voss, author of Never Split the Difference which is possibly the best book you can purchase on the art of negotiation. He’s an ex-FBI hostage negotiator, so he has some really cool stories, and he has translated his negotiation experience into how to do the same with sales and business.

If you ever talk to people, this is such a valuable interview, since it’s going to help you be a better communicator in general. You can apply this stuff everywhere. We even talk about using negotiating on how to strengthen your relationship. 

Not only does Chris dive into his backstory of working with some intense hostage negotiations, but he gives plenty of tips on how to use the same tactics with your business, to come out ahead while maintaining the best outcome for both sides. 

After you’ve listened be sure to check out our conversations with Daniel Daines-Hutt where we talk more about the psychology behind our marketing and Adil Amarsi who uses psychology skills to get people to buy more. 

“The most dangerous negotiation is the one you don’t know you are in. That’s kind of the definition of marketing, isn’t it?” - Chris Voss

Some Topics We Discussed Include:

• How to seek the best outcome in the negotiation
• Why you should not ask “Why?” and what to ask instead
• How to read body language and what to say to make them more at ease
• Routine questions Chris asks during negotiating
• What is tactical empathy and how to use it in your business
• The story behind Chris’ most memorable hostage situation
• How to improve your relationship at home
• Why you should not be 100% sure of what you want as your outcome
• What a hostage negotiation has to do with marketing and the takeaways you can use to come out ahead
• The three different types of negotiators
• And much, much more!

Contact Chris Voss:

• Text “fbiempathy” to the number ‘22828’ to get on Chris’ awesome newsletter list

References and Links Mentioned:

• Get the EGP Letter here where you’ll get not only all of the notes for everything episode we’ve done and will do in the mail, a private forum community, plus new training videos all the time with us and our guests.
• This episode is sponsored by our go-to SEO research tool, Ahrefs.com. We use this amazing tool pretty much daily, and if you listen back to some of our most recent episodes, we breakdown some of the tactics we use in our intros, such as website audits, looking at our competitors’ websites, and finding low hanging fruit keywords for easy Google rankings. Check out their YouTube channel to see a ton of tutorial videos as well. It’s like having cheat codes for business. As of this episode, they have a 7 day $7 trial, so be sure to check it out.
• Never Split the Difference  by Chris Voss
• Chris Voss has an awesome, bite-sized newsletter which negotiation tips tactics and to get on it, you can send a text to the number 22828 with the word “fbiempathy” (no caps, no spaces). 
• Chris’ Black Swan coaching group 
• The Rise of Superman by Stephen Kotler
• The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle
• The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb
• Originals by Adam Grant
• Our episode with Daniel Daines-Hutt 
• Our episode with Adil Amarsi