Rejection 32: Get a Free Room at a Hotel

It's Christmas day, and it's bitter cold here in Austin. On Christmas, everything other than hotels and hospitals got shut down. Since I would welcome some warmth, I entered into Westin asking for a free room.

Through my rejection therapy, I have discovered that many times in business or everyday life negotiation, it's more about yes/no. When you get rejected with your initial request, it doesn't hurt if you can request something else. This is called "If you can't do that" principle discussed in Robert Cialdini's fantastic and classic book: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. In this case, I got to see the Heavenly Bed, which I have always heard, but never experienced. In the end, it was a win (rejection + see something interesting).

Learning: Go into every negotiation with a secondary goal in mind. If you can't achieve your primary goal, ask for the secondary one. Your chance of getting a 'yes' would increase substantially with your secondary goal, since people really don't like to reject others twice.