Good old Ben. Ya gotta love him. Among other nifty inventions, he gave us electricity, the public library, the bifocal lens, and…swim fins (seriously).

What else was Ben well known for back in the day? Well, he had a tremendous knack for being able to negotiate pretty much anything in his favor. For example, with zippo leverage, Ben talked the French into betting their financial and military resources on a bunch of hardscrabble revolutionaries. Among his contemporaries, Ben was renowned as a master negotiator. Time and time again, there was one single negotiation technique that he relied on.

His secret negotiation technique? Questions. Yep, that’s it, “questions.”

Old Ben didn’t invent his secret negotiation technique. In his autobiography, Ben admits to “borrowing” the method from Socrates, “I procur’d Xenophon’s Memorable Things of Socrates, wherein there are many instances of the [Socratic] method. I was charm’d with it, adopted it, dropt my abrupt contradiction and positive argumentation, and put on the humble inquirer and doubter.”

At first, Ben admits to being attracted by the dark side of his secret negotiation technique, saying he became an expert at “…drawing People even of superior Knowledge into Concessions the Consequences of which they did not foresee, entangling them in Difficulties out of which they could not extricate themselves."  Jeez, Ben, that's just plain mean.

After ticking off some people royally (Get it? Royally?), Ben tempered and honed his secret negotiation technique, using questions to imply and communicate his position without having to use absolutes and take hard positions. That gave him tremendous flexibility in negotiations—he could easily alter or retract his strategy if a question went over like a lead kite. Questions also tend to deflect negotiation positions away from the individuals involved in a negotiation and channel the individuals toward teaming to solve a mutual dilemma.

To get you started thinking in the right direction for pulling a Ben Franklin in your next negotiation, here are some examples of where buyer questions soften the message to the seller and provide negotiation flexibility but that still get the message across.

1) If I could get the deal done by the end of [timeframe], what additional concessions do you think would be possible?

    Vs.

A) If I get this deal done by the end of [timeframe], I’m going to need more concessions

   

2) If I couldn’t meet your price, how could the deal be re-structured to reduce the price?

    Vs.

B) There is no way I’m going to pay that—you’re just going to have to get to my price.


3) If your company decides to invoke [some sort of nasty contract provision that negatively impacts the buyer], what does your company expect out of the relationship over the long-term?

    Vs.

C) If you guys invoke [the nasty contract provision], watch your back!


Here’s a concluding quote from Ben (re-written in modern English) that every buyer should strive to achieve in both negotiations and with a significant other, “Remember not only to say the right thing at the right time in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the wrong moment.”