"A Winner's Guide to Negotiating: How Conversations Get Deals Done" by Molly Fletcher (McGraw-Hill, $18).

As a sports and entertainment agent, who worked on $500 million in deals over two decades, Fletcher experienced the good and bad sides of negotiating tactics. She sees successful negotiation as a five-step process:

1. "Setting the stage" — Practice "360-degree awareness" by doing your homework. That starts with knowing why (yours and theirs) because why provides clarity of expectations. It provides a baseline for identifying things both sides value — including trust and respect.

Awareness also involves knowing the marketplace. People have other choices. Do your market research. Look at your competition's website; pay attention to their social media presence. Look at what's said about them in the news. If you lost deals to them, try to find out why.

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