Negotiation expert Herb Cohen says when you enter a negotiation, you want to show the other party you care – but not too much. 

You want to show you care, because you want the other party to feel valued. But you don’t want to show you care too much, because then you seem needy and desperate. 

I often think of this when I’m communicating with potential clients by phone and email. 

I send the message that I care about solving their problem and that it would be an honour for my company, Hunter & Scribe, to win their business. But I also send the message that if they decided to take their business elsewhere, I would respect their decision. 

By communicating in that way, I give myself the best chance of turning those potential clients into actual clients.