Jim Camp is the author of his own negotiation strategy, bachelor in biology, military pilot, fought in Vietnam. A person who has experienced a lot, understood a lot and was able to convey to others. Many managers of large companies use its negotiation system.
Although some experts in the field of negotiations reject and dispute it. More than one hundred thousand specialists from such companies as IBM, Merrill Lynch, Texas Instruments, Motorola and others have attended his school.
In 2010, he created his own Camp Negotiation Institute, which trains students on the topic of negotiation. He himself believed that he made a great contribution to the US economy.
Also, his books "Say no first" and "No." are very popular among businessmen of all countries. The best negotiation strategy ",
Biography
Jim Camp was born in 1946 in Washington. He graduated from mainstream school and then became a student at Ohio State University, where he received a bachelor's degree in biology, health and physical education. After graduating from high school in 1971, Camp almost immediately graduated from the courses of military pilots and went to the war in Vietnam. It was at this time that he developed a strong-willed character - otherwise you will not survive in the war. He spent seven years in this slaughterhouse and saw a lot.
All his life experience helped him develop his own negotiation system, which is unlike all others in that it denies compromise. And Camp justifies it with several arguments.
Chris Voss, CEO of The Black Swan Group, Ltd, said of him: “Jim Camp created a revolution with the methods that he introduced and then expounded in his books. He has been more influential in the negotiating world than anyone else since Roger Fisher and William Urie."
However, he did not just write books and lecture - in 1987, Camp created Camp Negotiation Systems and became its president. The mission of the company is to educate everyone in effective negotiations.
Camp system
In his books, Jim criticized mutually beneficial negotiations as ineffective. He emphasized the particularly important points of this process: to clearly raise questions, use the "Colombo effect" (surprise), knowledge of the "pain" of a potential partner, and others.
The main thing he calls for is to be honest with yourself and know what you want. This is to put it briefly. If you point by point, you get the following:
1. In negotiations, it does not happen that both partners win. Therefore, you need to be vigilant: to know your weak points and not let others know about them. Even if you think you have won, you may find several pitfalls later if the potential partner is psychologically stronger than you. What to do? Less emotion means more logic.
2. Good negotiators know the needs of those with whom they communicate and will promise mountains of gold after a deal is closed. Do not be afraid to refuse and be left without a contract - another will come. Don't sell cheap.
3. The Columbo effect. A sort of sloppy, forgetful peasant who seems to have to come to the criminal again and again, because he forgets to ask the main question. People feel superior to him and lose their vigilance. Use this trick.
4. No half-measures and understatements. Better to say, "I'm not sure this is a good option." And let that side prove what he is good at. At this time, someone will surely let it out if there is a secret plan against you.
5. Have your mission. And develop a mission for each negotiation - then it will be difficult to confuse you. The mission must be people-centered. And everything that does not fit into it, ruthlessly discard.
6. Questions. It is the most powerful negotiating tool. It is better to ask open-ended questions that cannot be answered unambiguously. This helps both you and your partner to see the whole picture more voluminously.
7. Conduct research on partner requests. Then you don't have to believe everything he says. The most important questions: how many years a partner has been on the market, how long will his product last on the market, why he stopped working with his old partner.
8. Talk less, listen more. The chatter gives out a lot of unnecessary information that can work against you. In general, an insecure person speaks a lot, and few people want to deal with such a person. If you are talkative, correspond by e-mail, re-reading your letters several times.
9. Pain. Find out the main “pain” of your partner, and think about how you can remove it. This will be the best deal for him.
10. Negotiation budget. It is made up of time, energy, finance, and emotion. Reduce your budget and increase your partner's budget. Conduct negotiations on your territory - it will save you time. Letting your partner prepare the information they need in advance will save energy. Do not spend a lot of money on organizing negotiations - this way you will be strongly attached to them, because you will be sorry for the resources spent, and you will agree to a bad deal. If you feel fantastic promises, threats, or demands, deadlines, or doubts, these are emotions. Don't get fooled by this.
11. Talk only to decision-makers. So you will save a lot of time and effort that can be spent on figuring out all the nuances.
12. Agenda. Identify your and your partner's problems in this project; solve ideological issues (some have religious prejudices, some have racial ones, etc.); clearly define what you want from this project; distribute the stages of work and deadlines.
13. Presentation. Better not to do it at all, because the presentation shows that you need a partner. It is better to talk about his "pain" and give a solution. If you can't do without it, let those who make the decision see it.
This is just a short description of Camp's system, in more detail - in his books.
Personal life
Jim Camp has changed several places of residence during his life: Austin (Texas), Vero Beach (Florida), Dublin (Ohio). He was married to Patti Camp and had five children. Camp passed away in 2014 and is buried in Dublin.
