Effective compromise requires homework and credibility as well as critical analysis and perspective regarding the other party and the deal. It is self-defeating to become preoccupied solely with your goals and concerns and neglect the necessary analysis on how to solve the other party's legitimate concerns. Accordingly, it is necessary to critically size up the other party and seek to resolve his concerns in a manner acceptable to you. Deal making requires maintaining a pragmatic perspective and giving careful consideration to the impact that changes will have on the overall transaction. Effective negotiating requires that when both sides stick on a point they become analytical and inventive and devise a common middle ground, if possible, that does not defeat the substance of an advantageous deal.
Successful negotiations take place in an atmosphere of reasonableness.
A confrontational approach is undesirable in all but a few instances. Reducing adversarial points to a minimum and staging issues as matters of legitimate, mutual concern requiring collective efforts at resolution usually yields long-term benefits. That is not to suggest that there is no place for hardball or brinkmanship. However, it is important to be absolutely sure of the circumstances and terms that merit such an approach. You want to avoid irrevocably impairing communication and losing a deal which you desired and could have structured on beneficial terms.