Swimming with Sharks.

"Smile and say no until your tongue bleeds" ~ Harvey Mackay.

It's so easy to say yes. Yes to yet another feature, yes to a price concession, yes to a mediocre design, yes to lowering a personal standard, yes to anything - yes, yes, yes. We all want to be liked, loved, accommodating and nice. It helps you get more business right? No it doesn't. It establishes you as someone without standards, without qualifiers, someone who will say yes to anything and stands for nothing. Are you someone who is so afraid of losing the deal you will say yes to anything? What's the first rule of negotiation? You must be willing to walk away. Harvey Mackay said it best in his book "Swimming with Sharks" "Smile and say no until your tongue bleeds." Or say yes to everything and build your reputation as a yes man.