"I Understand” as promised. At any time you are faced with a situation in which you find yourself lost for words, stuck or in a position where the other party is very heated and disturbed, this will help alleviate any tension and keep you neutral. “I Understand” is a neutral response and places the position back to the other person leaving you in control of the negotiation. As a director of sales, I was confronted with this situation. The husband who decided to show his wife, the man he was, approached me and proceeded
to let me know how unhappy and disgusted he was. This happened in July when our air conditioning broke down and 70+ tours arrived when there was only room for 30 in the lobby. As he un-loaded his well planned barrage of comments, I stood with my eyes affixed on him and looking up since he was much taller.
I did not flinch, repeatedly said “I Understand”. I said this approximately 10 to 12 times. Finally, he subsided, ran out of comments and went back to his wife. As I turned to walk away,
I felt a tug on my arm by another man. He proceeded to tell me that he had never seen anything like that. He said, “that was amazing, you never flinched or gave in”. As you might imagine,
I walked away with a secret grin knowing the control I kept with this negotiating tool. For any area of negotiating, “I understand” places the burden for explanation back to other side.