6 foolproof steps to making deals of any size
By Marc Diener

Negotiation is a minefield for the unprepared and untrained. It's amazing how often even the savvy and street smart make elementary mistakes.

In Deal Power, Marc Diener, a battle-hardened negotiation pro shows you step by step how to cut the best deal every time. Diener's experience as a Los Angeles business attorney and dealmaker for directors, producers and major television studios comes through on every page. Diener demystifies the art of dealmaking and provides a highly practical roadmap.

The book is full of useful do's and don'ts checklists. Here for example, are the ten deals Diener urges you to approach with extreme caution:

1. Any deal you don't understand.
2. Any deal requiring lots of money up front.
3. Any deal you're asked to do in a hurry.
4. Any deal with people you don't know, as with companies you've never heard of.
5. Any deal that's set up like a pyramid scheme.
6. Any deal involving a tax shelter.
7. Any deal involving a person or company whose accountants, bankers or lawyers have quit.
8. Any deal that comes from an unsolicited phone call.
9. Any deal in which you're being harangued, manipulated, or schmoozed.
10. Any deal that sounds "too good to be true."

Read and re-read the chapter on minimizing risk. My own lawyer always likes to remind me, "minimize the downside in any business deal and the upside will take care of itself."

If you can't afford expert professional advice when you negotiate, then Deal Power is probably the best substitute.

Every negotiator should own a copy.

Available for purchase from Amazon.com