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of persuasion. When approaching tone, ask yourself: "What kinds of things would I

like my audience to infer about me?" "What kinds of inferences would keep ethos as
a means of persuasion open to me?"

In the business world and in real estate-related negotiations and correspondence,
you always want to establish a positive tone. This is why it is so important that you

pay attention to the connotation of words, format, clarity and your level of familiarity.

If you want to keep ethos as a means of persuasion open to you, then you want

people to read your correspondence or listen to you speak and infer that you are:

Professional
Ethical

Patient

Reasonable
Innovative

A positive tone is important for other reasons too. For example, you cannot
effectively communicate with a person who feels on the defensive—such an

individual's ability to reason is too clouded with fear and anger.

This is problematic because if a person cannot think clearly, then he or she will not
be able to assist you in reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.

Always give people the benefit of the doubt. Negotiation sessions are simply

discussions about concessions and goals with another party so that both parties can

reach their desired ends, which must be complementary for negotiations to occur in
the first place. For example, ultimately, sellers want to sell their houses and buyers

want to buy seller's houses. It is true that negotiations and concessions on certain

issues, such as sale price, the payment of fees, the payment of discount points, etc.,
must be made, but ultimately when a real estate transaction closes, both parties have

TX Marketing II: Negotiation Techniques 68