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PMCert

Open Assessment · CCNS

Negotiation and Influence

Twenty questions at the level of the CCNS certification exam, on a table with incomplete information: preparation, style, influence, listening, running the table and conflict.

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  • Free

    No account, no card, no limit on attempts.

  • Not the certification exam

    Separate questions, never reused in the exam.

  • Nothing on your record

    Your answers are not kept. Only the result by domain is saved, linked to you only if you are signed in, and it produces no credential.

Sample questions

Two questions from this practice test, in the same style as the certification exam. Answer before opening the explanation.

  1. Question 1

    Surveys of business negotiations show that most deals close at a value close to that of the first offer presented. Which practical conduct follows from that observation?

    1. Preparing the opening reference carefully, because it usually conditions the whole range in which the deal settles.
    2. Always leaving the first offer to the other side, so as to preserve information and observe their behaviour before exposing any figure of your own.
    3. Always opening at an extreme value, because the further away the opening, the better the final result obtained.
    4. Avoiding any numerical reference at the opening and running the conversation only by interests until the final phase.
    Show answer and explanation

    Correct answer: A. Preparing the opening reference carefully, because it usually conditions the whole range in which the deal settles.

    The effect of the first reference is strong enough to justify preparing it rather than improvising it. That does not mean always opening, nor opening at an extreme value: an opening with nothing behind it is discarded and costs credibility. Refusing any reference hands the anchoring to the other side by omission.

  2. Question 2

    A manager needs the support of an area with which he had a falling-out last quarter and concludes that there is nothing to be done there. Which principle of working with influence does that conclusion ignore?

    1. That an area with a bad history should be bypassed through higher levels.
    2. That anyone is a potential ally, because an alliance is built on common interest and not on prior goodwill.
    3. That the earlier falling-out has to be formally settled before any request.
    4. That support is obtained through the authority of whoever asks, and not through the relationship between the parties.
    Show answer and explanation

    Correct answer: B. That anyone is a potential ally, because an alliance is built on common interest and not on prior goodwill.

    Treating a bad history as a definitive impediment rules out from the start a good share of the support available. An alliance rests on common interest, which can exist even where the relationship is cold. Bypassing through a higher level settles it once and creates permanent opposition.

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