Driving A Smart Bargain: How To Get The Best Possible Price, Buying Or Selling by Jim Roberton

Ever wondered if you are getting the optimal deal? In his latest book, "Driving A Smart Bargain: How To Get The Best Possible Price, Buying Or Selling," Ecolint alumnus J.C. Roberton (LGB, 1957) offers practical examples, providing a fresh perspective on competitive negotiating.

This insightful book serves as a practical handbook for individuals engaged in buying or selling within a free-market economy. Jim's enduring areas of personal interest revolve around effectively guiding a free-market economy to achieve two overarching goals:

• Maximizing productivity
• Ensuring equitable distribution of that productivity among all community members

He consistently emphasizes the notion that "Eternal scepticism is the price of wisdom." This book proves particularly valuable for inexperienced executives or entrepreneurs, offering protection against being outmanoeuvred by more seasoned negotiators.

With a manageable size of 148 pages and an authorial style that is user-friendly, the book is approachable for readers. However, it contains a wealth of practical wisdom within those pages. The author's mantra encapsulates the essence: "Bargaining can be taught; Bargaining can be learned; Bargainers are made, not born."

Jim only spent one year at Ecolint but this enlightening experience ignited a profound affinity for learning, a sentiment he proudly carries to this day, as reflected in his book.

Crafted for individuals, this book aids in understanding the art of bargaining. Bargaining involves interacting with others to achieve the most favourable outcome. This skill, integral to the book's teachings, was also cultivated at Ecolint. Jim emphasized, “Learning isn’t confined to classrooms and libraries. It’s found by actively interacting with different people, in different places and different contexts, people who have different attitudes and different goals, and who function under different sets of constraints. Learning mandates observing what goes on around you, retaining rigorously objective memories of your experiences, and comparing them to what you encounter elsewhere. It requires the courage to think for yourself, to trust your own intellect, and to draw your conclusions.”

The theme of learning as a skill permeates his entire book. Additionally, J.C. Roberton's groundbreaking analysis unveils and emphasizes crucial principles not found elsewhere in the literature on "Negotiating." Within this book, Jim introduces, for the first time, the four interconnected Principles of Bargaining (Knowledge, Deception, Risk, and Time) that dictate the ultimate outcome. He fearlessly highlights how behaviours, often deemed unacceptable in other contexts, are integral and accepted components of bargaining. Jim demonstrates that the commonly juxtaposed ideas of "Win-Win" and "Win-Lose" are not mutually exclusive but are essential elements in the bargaining process, resolving a longstanding issue that has confounded other writers on the subject.

Furthermore, the author imparts a sharp set of guidelines on successfully collaborating with lawyers, drawing from his personal experiences. Following his time at Ecolint, Jim graduated from Yale and became a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, earning a law degree from Stanford and an MBA from UC Berkeley. He practised corporate law in California for several years before turning a "brief" overseas trip into six years of managing a major hospital complex in Abu Dhabi. Subsequently, he engaged in various start-up ventures and real estate transactions, ultimately dedicating his talents to penning this book.

This book is published by the Page Publishing Company of Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania. It’s available through bookstores everywhere, or online via Amazon, Barnes and Noble.