James Camarota

I started the day having no idea that I would actually end up negotiating against one of the best negotiators in the world. I was actually going down to grab my lunch when I first met him in the elevator ride up, and I said, "I'm very excited to negotiate against him," which was interesting. I already knew that I was going to negotiate because I was told earlier, but in that exact moment, he said no. In the spirit, I labeled him and said no back to him, and we stood in silence for about 15 seconds. Then I asked him, "Well, why did you say that?" and he said, "Because you're not negotiating against me, you're actually negotiating with me." It was something that really stuck throughout the entire day and still sticks with me now. When you're negotiating, you're not negotiating against people. You're negotiating with them to get to a common goal. After that, a couple people went before me, and then it was my turn to negotiate against Chris Voss. What was unbeknownst to me was that I was actually pitching my business. My biggest mistake is that I would have liked to know more about what I was actually trying to go for and my end closing. I started off with an accusation audit, basically saying that he might think I'm just a random other high schooler, but I actually do all these things. Then I got into that and just used mirroring, labeling, and a couple calibrated questions to listen rather than just grill him, with more understanding. About halfway through, I started shifting to asking more calibrated questions to learn more and then possibly find that deeper pain. Once I understood the pain, I was trying to use calibrated questions and other things to convince him or show him that I could help solve that pain. The biggest issue was that I didn't really know what I was trying to do going into it, and because of that, I couldn't actually do something. How do I say this? I didn't actually know I was going to sell him. Finally, I said that I would send an email to him, and the conversation ended. It was a great experience, and one of the best parts for me was when I asked him, "The only time you're allowed to use a why question is: why are you still talking to me?" He answered, "Because you're listening." I think that really stuck with me. It showed that people will talk to you if they listen more. I talked to him for the longest time, duration-wise, and I think it was because I was just listening to what he was saying and showing that I was an active listener. I think that is the biggest lesson that I took away. Something else I took away is that preparation is very important, and that you need to know what you are going into: trying to get out of the person or trying to sell to them. If you don't, you're going to be underprepared. You might be able to get all the way there, but you're not going to be able to close. Those two things are what really stuck with me about my negotiation against the best negotiator in the world. Shout out to Founder School, Chris Voss, and everyone over here at Founder School for giving me the opportunity to do this. It's going to be something I remember for a long time. Highly recommend everyone checks out "Never Split the Difference."