It will take a lot more than books to help my career.

I've read Getting to Yes, The Coaching Habit, and Never Split the Difference. They seemed to have decent information.

One is an ultimatum/threat, and the other is simply expressing facts/position as part of a negotiation (it also reserves your right to act however you choose, and does not immediately put the relationship in jeopardy). The former is not advisable, ever.

I recommend everyone read Getting to Yes.

I second the Getting to Yes recommendation. It's the best book I've found on negotiating that is actually applicable in the real world.

I've read both a few of the negotiation books (Getting to yes, Getting past no) and Five Dysfunctions and I don't know that I'd recommend them, to be honest.

My beef with Five Dysfunctions is primarily the book recommending MBTI. MBTI has the predictive value of horoscopes, more or less. Really hard to take anything said seriously at that point.

The negotiation-series has some value, and has helped me succeed in some negotiations, but I'd honestly recommend Never split the difference as a substitute. Having read that book instead would probably have saved me more than a few poor outcomes in negotiations.

Finally I'd like to recommend Peopleware - surely one of - if not the definitively - best book I've read for professional purposes.

Buyer: I think I could come up to maybe $7500 but that’s about it. .. then later: Buyer: Ok at $10,500 we have a deal.

I've sold a few projects in my time, but this conversation makes me think I should really look at having an agent represent me in future. The whole "I can only offer $7500" but then that turned into a $10500 sale just goes over my head - the communications skills needed are next level, and I've read Getting to Yes and such books :-) Maybe having someone less emotionally attached to a project could work in negotiations to increase the price to far more than cover their fee?

Normally, yes, and as was mentioned higher in the thread this initial figure is referred to as an "anchor," meaning that it has the psychological effect of implying that anything higher than that number is somehow a real concession on the buyer's part, when the reality is that the opening number could have just been higher. It's rather like when a store says "this is normally $500 but now it's on sale for only $250" instead of just pricing something at $250 in the first place. Getting to Yes, also mentioned above, is a useful book on negotiation.