I don't know why I thought this was a book about sales techniques; it's actually a book about negotiation skills, and in particular what the author calls principled negotiation (considering the interests of both parties) as opposed to positional negotiation (taking positions). Although it wasn't what I was expecting, it's a very interesting book, clearly explaining the weakness of positional negotiation and how to change the discussion to a more productive examination of all parties' interests.

The difference can be summed up quite easily in an example the author gives: two people in a library, person A wants the window closed and person B wants the window open. Two positions that are pretty much irreconcilable if the two parties simply stand by their positions and refuse to budge; there seems no way to negotiate an answer that will satisfy both. However, if the librarian comes in and looks at their interests rather than their positions, she may learn that person A wants the window open because they want fresh air (maybe the dust is making them allergic) while person B wants the window closed because he didn't bring a jacket and will be cold in a draft. Now the librarian can offer several solutions that might resolve the disagreement - open a window further away from person B, turn up the heat, offer person A allergy medications, increase the cleaner's schedule for dusting, etc. Looking at the interests instead of the positions may turn up several ways to resolve the dispute to both people's satisfaction, none of which will be discovered if they insist on sticking to their principles and looking at the dispute in only that light.