We had a fun discussion at lunchtime. One of us is going to Shanghai and wanted to find out about the best places to meet young dynamic executive women. We will not question his motives here. Since he took this negotiation class with the 7 elements (communication, relationship, interest, options, criteria, commitment and alternatives), he decided to develop a negotiation pick up line. The conversation would probably sound something like this:

Hi my name is Nego Master and I thought that we could spend some time working on our relationship. Since you are not responding, it sounds like nothing is getting in the way of our communication so I will move straight to interests. This is the simplest part of the conversation - I have a very simple one and I will be very open about it, which I hope you can reciprocate: I need to fall in love for four days while I am in town. I am of course considering several options from Internet dating through to matchmaking agencies but I thought that I would run the risk to get lost in stupid positional bargaining that would only threaten the relationship aspect and my ego - come to think of it, my nego too. I thought I would really need to be on top of things and a direct approach with a face to face discussion seemed more appropriate and should contribute to deeper levels of understanding. So I will use a simple criterium: money, in the form of income, investments, real estate, father's income... It is straightforward, easy to measure and neutral. Now, I don't mean to force you into any kind of commitment but I must forewarn you that I have identified an alter native girl who won't be able to wait much longer. So what say you?

I take bets on his chances of success.