Good morning and welcome to The Closer, the newsletter all about deals. Today’s edition is short and sharp — one tactic, backed by research, to help you negotiate smarter. No headlines, no noise — just a Nugget you can deploy by lunchtime.
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ANCHORING ADJUSTMENT
PATTERNS
Closer Tactic #71 • Deal Psychology
Most people adjust randomly from anchors.
Research reveals the adjustment pattern.
The Nugget
People adjust insufficiently from anchors in predictable ways.
When Google was acquiring YouTube in 2006, early reports suggested Google's negotiators used this bias strategically. They anchored high at $1.65 billion, knowing that YouTube's founders would adjust downward but not enough to reach their true reservation price. The final $1.65 billion deal suggests YouTube's team anchored on Google's offer rather than their own valuation, leading to insufficient adjustment.
How to Deploy
• Set anchors knowing people will adjust 20-40% toward their true position
• Use the adjustment pattern to reverse-engineer their likely reservation price
• Anchor further from your target to account for predictable adjustment
Avoid assuming they'll adjust all the way to a fair middle ground.
Takeaway
People adjust from anchors, but never far enough.
Reply with a time you used adjustment patterns strategically—
we might feature you (and send a mug).