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Seeing Eye-to-Eye in negotiations

A practical AI-generated review of Eye Contact as a negotiation tactic, exploring how deliberate gaze and silence influence pace, positioning, and observation.

 

What We Explored in This Episode

 

This episode uses an AI-generated review of the Eye Contact tactic, drawing directly from The Negotiation Club website and the Make Eye Contact Negotiation Card.

Rather than treating eye contact as generic body language, the discussion focuses on how it functions as a deliberate negotiation behaviour at key moments such as offers, rejections, and direct questions.

 

 

Why Eye Contact Matters in Practice

 

Eye contact changes how a moment lands.

The episode explores how looking up at the right time — and then stopping talking — can slow negotiations down, reduce unnecessary explanation, and allow the other party’s reaction to surface.

It highlights that most negotiators lose information not because they fail to ask questions, but because they break eye contact too early or rush to fill silence.

 

 

What Most Negotiators Miss

 

Many negotiators think they are “good at eye contact” until they practise it under pressure.

This episode surfaces common execution gaps, including:

  • Looking away when delivering numbers or boundaries

  • Smiling or softening immediately after a rejection

  • Using eye contact continuously rather than intentionally

The focus is not confidence, but control and observation.

 

 

Turning Insight into Practice

 

Eye contact only becomes effective when it is practised deliberately.

The episode reinforces the value of short, timed negotiations where participants focus on:

  • Delivering the key line

  • Holding eye contact briefly

  • Staying silent

  • Observing what happens next

This is where eye contact shifts from instinct to skill.

 

 

Practice Cue

 

In your next practice negotiation, use the Make Eye Contact Negotiation Card.

Deliver one offer or rejection while holding eye contact for one to two seconds, then say nothing.

Afterwards, reflect on what reaction you noticed that you might normally have missed.