The Super Word!

Haiti is a sovereign state in North America.

After the tumble of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, it became a kidnapping capital of America.

It became a fashion for kidnappers to get garbed in a ski-mask outfit, and grab vulnerable people out of their houses or cars on gunpoint.

On Monday morning, a wife of a famous Haitian political figure was abducted by some mask men.

They called her nephew and demanded a ransom of $150,000.

“Give us the money or your aunt is going to die,” said the kidnappers.

The disturbed nephew called the FBI for help.

During that time, Christopher Voss (author of Never split the difference) was the lead FBI negotiator.

He was studying the patterns of kidnapping and abductions since the coup d’état of Haiti President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Before 2004, the kidnappings of political figures were motivated by a political agenda to topple the government.

After 2004, the kidnappings and abduction were about business.

And the majority of kidnappings took place on Mondays.

Why?

Do the kidnappers also follow a moral code of Monday?

After a study of earlier kidnapping patterns and interviewing the hostages they had rescued, Christopher Voss came to some conclusions.

The kidnappings were not politically motivated.

The kidnappers were hooligans who wanted to enjoy their weekend with the ransom money.

Voss understood the deadline patterns of these kidnappings.

The rules of play were simple.

Kidnapping on Monday, negotiating until rest of the week; getting paid and enjoying the weekend.

Christopher Voss knew that $150,000 was very high, and $5000 was enough for a weekend in Haiti.

The anxious nephew informed Voss that the family can only pay between $50,000 and $85,000.

But Voss had already done his calculations.

He taught the nephew a negotiation technique of saying ‘No’ without insulting the kidnappers.

When the kidnappers called the nephew, he asked them “How am I supposed to give you $150, 000”?

The kidnappers threatened him that they will kill her aunt.

The nephew responded,” I am sorry, but how are we supposed to pay if you are going to hurt her?”

It was clear that the kidnapper did not have any intentions to kill her aunt.

They needed money for the weekend and not a body count on their head.

Instantly, they dropped their demand to $50,000.

Seizing this opportunity, Christopher Voss instructed the nephew to ask another tricky question.

“How can I come up with that kind of money?”

To answer this, the kidnappers lowered their ransom to $25,000.

Voss getting an upper hand told the nephew to make the first offer from his side of $3000.

A silent prevailed on the line, and the nephew was sweating profusely while waiting for an answer.

How someone demanding $150,000 will be satisfied by only $3000?

But to his surprise, the kidnappers now demanded only $10,000.

Now Voss was in total control.

He instructed the nephew to give them a complex figure of $4,751.

The kidnappers were in no mood for calculations.

So they drop further to $7,500.

Then Voss told the nephew to add a surprise gift for them in the package.

“I can only pay $4,751. But you can also have my portable CD stereo,” said the nephew.

What the kidnappers will do with an old portable electronic item?

In frustration, the kidnappers accepted the offer.

After a couple of hours, the nephew paid $4,751 and got her aunt back in healthy condition.

Without insulting the kidnappers, Christopher Voss used the power of ‘NO’ and made them drop the ransom of $150,000 to a mere sum of $4751.

‘No’ when used wisely, adds advantage to your side of the negotiation.

NO — is the Super Word!