Reading the book Never Split the Difference for use in my injury practice. Why the title?
Why should you NEVER in injury case negotiations say let’s split the difference?
Well the answer is because it may cost your client $.
On the other hand you may be able to squeeze out a bit more $ for your client by getting the insurance adjuster to suggest it first.
Pittsburgh injury case settlement attorney Bernie Tully thinks the reasoning for not blinking first becomes obvious by a simple example.
Suppose we demand $40,000 to settle a case and they offer $20,000.
Suppose further, the insurance company says $20,000 is their top offer. Do you take the offer or not?
Well what some attorneys will do as a way to break the loggerhead is suggest a split the baby approach. That is, $30,000 is the halfway point between the 2 positions in this example. So let settle for that amount.
What is wrong with this idea? Pittsburgh injury case settlement attorney Bernie Tully knows you can figure it out.
Quite simply,whoever says let’s split the difference first loses.
Why? Because by saying that the adjuster KNOWS you will settle for $30,000. So the insurance company will say sorry we cannot. But we will offer $27,000.
So in that example the attorney has cost their client $3000.
But the concept works to your advantage if you let the other side make the suggestion first. Because then you can play the same game.
You can say sorry but we cannot accept $30,000. But we will except $34,000 to settle the case. You know they have $30,000 or they would not have made that suggestion in the first place.
In the end, for the attorney it should ALWAYS come down to attempting to get your injury client the MOST money you can for what they went through. And at least in my opinion that is the value of these kinds of books.
Can you also see how you could use this approach in your everyday life? How about when you’re going to buy a car? That is a serious game of negotiations. And the more knowledge you have of how the game is played the better your chances are of getting the best results possible. For you and your family.
Anyway that is the way I approach my job. I will be the first to say, it doesn’t always work out that way in negotiations. But at least you know that’s what I’m trying to do for you in your case.
Thanks for reading!
Bernie the attorney.
PS Go Steelers!