Editor's Note: We asked America's top negotiating pros--Kenneth Feinberg, Kevin O'Leary, Leigh Steinberg, Richelieu Dennis, and Eugene Driker--to share their haggling tips and strategies so you can ramp up your dealmaking game.
A shark walks.
When investor and Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary and his partners decided to sell their real estate business, they jointly agreed the lowest amount they would accept was $80 million. O'Leary, the designated negotiator for the deal, presented the other side with an opening ask of $120 million. The buyer countered with a number below the minimum they'd set, and O'Leary replied that he was no longer interested.
Days later, the buyer came back with a higher offer, but it still wasn't enough. O'Leary left the table again. A third time, the buyer called back, and a third time, O'Leary walked away. All this, despite the fact that O'Leary and his partners didn't have other options. "There was no other offer," O'Leary says. If we didn't reach a deal, we were holding onto the company."