What Forty Years of Negotiation Taught Me About Trust

Every culture negotiates differently, but one thing is universal: people buy from people they trust. And trust, in trade, is built from small kept promises.

Reply when you said you would reply. Ship a sample when you said you would ship it. Quote honestly, even when the honest number is uncomfortable. These tiny acts compound into a reputation that travels ahead of you.

Never win a negotiation so completely that the other side loses face. A squeezed supplier cuts corners. A resentful buyer disappears after one order. The best deals leave both sides eager for the next one.

And when something goes wrong — and in forty years, things will go wrong — pick up the phone before they do. Bad news delivered early is a problem solved together. Bad news discovered late is a relationship ended.

This is the philosophy behind everything I teach, whether we are discussing a letter of credit or a landing page.