Whether you’re purchasing a car or negotiating your salary at a new job, Paul lists his best eight tips for negotiation.

Personally, my favorite is this one:

Let them believe the final decision doesn’t rest with you
Once a negotiation starts, most people want to get it over with as quickly as possible. Let their impatience beat them. One great way of doing this is to let them believe the person they’re negotiating with isn’t actually you, but some other “authority figure”.

Say something like “Well, I’ll have to talk it over with my boss / spouse / partner before I can give you a definite yes”.

A skilled negotiator will always want to talk to the person who has the final decision, but don’t let them do it. Say the person with the authority over the deal wants you to sort things out but still needs to have the final say. Tell them you’ll discuss it and get back with an answer tomorrow. Ask them to make sure that’s their best offer you can take to your “authority figure”.

This is also a great strategy for preventing people rushing you.