The Power of Yes
When the price is already a bargain, don't haggle — win with speed and certainty of close.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 90%
A counterintuitive negotiation move: when your private valuation says the asking price is a steal, stop negotiating price. Instead trade an instant, clean 'yes' for the terms that actually matter to you — time to close, no financing contingency drama, no haggling that could reopen the deal to rivals. Certainty and speed become your bargaining chip against buyers who are still trying to grind out a discount.
Origin
Told he had to pay $1.2B for Lord & Taylor, Baker simply said 'I'll pay $1.2 billion, but I need 120 days to close.' No counter. He believed the real estate was worth $500M more, so price wasn't the game — control and time were. Federated, assuming he was a big PE fund, signed, never asked for financials or a deposit.
Core principles
- 01If your analysis says the price is a bargain, negotiating it down risks losing the deal to a faster bidder — the discount is already in the asset.
- 02Yes is powerful 'when you use it the right way' — you concede the number to win the structure.
- 03Speed and certainty of close are worth more than a few points of price to a seller who has promised shareholders a result.
- 04Sellers set a price for their own reasons (what they told their board); meet it and extract everything else.
How to run it
- 1
Value it privately first
Do the analysis to know what the asset is really worth to you, independent of the ask. Only say yes fast when your number says the price is a clear bargain.
Pro tip Baker's yes was backed by seven months of valuation — the confidence is earned, not bravado.
Watch out Saying yes without conviction is just overpaying.
- 2
Concede the number, capture the terms
Agree to the full price without a counter, and in the same breath ask for what you actually need — time to close, structure, no punishing contingencies.
Pro tip 'I'll pay 1.2 billion, but I need 120 days.' The seller hears a clean deal and grants the terms.
Watch out Don't reopen the price later; the whole leverage is that you were the easy, certain buyer.
- 3
Move faster than rivals can react
Sign and lock the deal before slower, discount-seeking competitors organize. Certainty closes.
In the wild
Rivals haggled the $1.2B ask; Baker accepted it outright in exchange for 120 days. The seller, assuming he was a major PE firm, signed a purchase agreement with a single-purpose entity, never requesting financials or a deposit.
→ Baker controlled a $1.2B company he believed held $500M of hidden real-estate value — because he didn't negotiate the number.
Common mistakes
Grinding price on an asset you know is underpriced
The other bidders negotiated and lost momentum. When the bargain is real, haggling only creates the opening for a faster buyer to take it.
Saying yes without the valuation to back it
The Power of Yes is not recklessness — without conviction from analysis, a fast yes is just an expensive mistake.
Is it for you?
Best for
Deal-makers who have done the valuation work and face competitive situations where speed and certainty of close beat squeezing the last dollar.
Not ideal for
Commodity purchases with no information edge, or negotiations where the price genuinely is the only variable that matters.
From the transcript
“I didn't negotiate with him. Sometimes, Jen, you have to use the power of yes. Yes is a really powerful thing when you use it…”
“I'll pay 1.2 billion dollars, but I need 120 days in order to close. Done.”
“I believe the real estate was worth 500 million dollars more than the 1.2 billion dollars.”
From the episode
Episode 569: Richard Baker: Entrepreneurship Lessons From Billion Dollar Deals and Bold Risks
Richard Baker