Winning - Losing Results in NegotiationsFrom my readings on negotiations, I have realized that, one way or another, we always negotiate, because all we need and want in life it belongs to someone else. Therefore, to get what we want, we must negotiate to get it. After our negotiations, we could have a win-win outcome, where everyone is happy, or we could end up in a win-lose outcome, where one side is perceived to have done much better at the expense of the other. For this assignment I am writing down my personal experience that ends with a win-lose outcome (in this case, the other guy was the winner and I was the loser). This happened to me about a month ago when I decided to sell one of my two cars. I decided to sell my car for two reasons: first, owning a second car only added to my expenses, and second, I needed money to go on vacation to Peru. By then I had already bought plane tickets, but I needed extra money to spend in Peru. Anyway, I decided to put a "for sale" sign on my windshield, like many people do when they want to sell their car. A week had passed and I had no luck selling my car. I have to admit I was a little worried because I was really looking forward to selling this car and getting some money out of it. But two or three days before my trip, to my surprise, someone had left a message on my cell phone. It was a gentleman who said he was very interested in buying my car if the price was reasonable. I contacted this guy as soon as possible and told him the amount of money I was asking for the car. He replied that it was probably more than he was willing to pay. Since I didn't want to lose a potential buyer, I said I was willing to negotiate. The book tells us that a win-lose outcome often occurs “when future relationships are not important” (R. Lewicki, Negotiation, page 19). In this case, I had not anticipated any further business with this gentleman beyond this sales transaction. I didn't expect any kind of friendship/relationship with that guy either.