Tony is earning more than Joe because, during negotiations, he takes his time to get to know the customer’s carpet needs. He learns the customer’s taste by listening and observing closely the type of carpet the customer prefers. Before embarking on negotiations, Tony takes his time to learn the personal background of each customer and which factors they deem as the most important. For example, some customers might be more concerned about the size of the carpet, while others put more importance on the type. Tony takes his time to interact with the customers in a friendly but businesslike manner. Tony does not put the price as the most critical factor during negotiations but finding a carpet that will suit the customer’s needs (Maddux, 1995). After the customer has made a general statement on what they are looking for in the carpet, Tony makes an initial positive statement to build customers’ trust and earn his cooperation. He does this by listening keenly to the customer’s needs and finding the exact carpet that he deems suitable. By doing this, the customer feels appreciated and is at ease to discuss their desires with Tony. Tony understands that all negotiations are different since customers have varied individual carpet needs. For example, some customers may put more emphasis on the type of carpet they want, whereas others are concerned about the kind and the price as well. Since Tony is a skilled negotiator, he studies such issues beforehand and formulates a plan of dealing with them before proceeding further (Maddux, 1995). Tony sells the carpet at the retail price and never volunteers to give a customer any discount. He handles any conflicts and disagreements that arise during negotiations well since he explains the merits of the carpet to the customer and justifies the prices. This prepares the ground for the customer to reassess their stand and reach a compromise (Maddux, 1995). Joe is the exact opposite since he never takes sufficient time to discuss the merits of the carpet with the customer but puts more emphasis on price. He has poor negotiation skills since he rarely takes customer need s into consideration when making a sale. Putting more focus on merit rather than customer needs destroys any chances of building a mutual relationship with the buyer, which is the basis of any negotiation process. Joe does not handle any disagreement from the customer well since he quickly reduces the price if a buyer hesitates, instead of trying to win over the customer through negotiations. Price Price is not the only focus of negotiation because other product characters must be taken into consideration. The quality of the product, the cost of production, and the profit margin must also be considered. Sometimes, negotiators who are eager to make a sale assume that they will lose most of the customers if they do not give price discounts. However, they forget that customers might start losing confidence in the quality of the product if a negotiator is always willing to lower the price (Mehta, 2009). Secondly, a negotiator is still entitled to reasonable compensation for the product or service they are selling. Sticking to the retail price as a negotiator builds the customer