Category Archives: situational strategies

Negotiating Strategy; Selling on the Silk Road

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Bill Carson

PUSHING BAZAAR The largest market in Central Asia is the Pushing Bazaar in Ashkabad.  Why ”pushing”?  Because it’s packed with potential customers and onlookers, and you have to push your way through the crowd to get anywhere. And once you’re there bargaining for something, if the action is interesting, people will push their way into the situation, offering their own assessment of the item’s value, and arguing with each other about it (in the Turkmen language – you haven’t a clue what they’re saying).  It’s a pastime for them. The place is huge, full of color, texture and sound, and is roughly … Continue reading →

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Negotiating Strategy; Buying on the Silk Road

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Bill Carson

SITTING here with family and friends on a large wooden divan in a Samarkand chaikhana, sipping that good tea, and eating some local snacks …  we were about to take in some of the city’s magnificent architecture.  Tomorrow we would be going to the Registan, a great market where I could take a shot at doing some negotiating with Silk Road merchants renowned for their sophisticated bargaining. The Silk Road Built on even much earlier trade routes, the Silk Road was a well-established overland route by 200 BC, that primarily connected the Mediterranean and China.  No surprise, a principal commodity of trade … Continue reading →

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