Sales Quote by Brian Koslow

Power in a negotiation rarely comes from the clever line you deliver at the table; it comes from the silence you can afford afterward. Brian Koslow's maxim treats walking away not as a dramatic flourish but as leverage in its purest form: the credible threat of absence. The intent is pragmatic and slightly corrective, pushing back on the cultural script that frames dealmaking as relentless hustle, perpetual closing, the moral virtue of "getting to yes". Here, "good" doesn't mean big. It means sane: terms you can live with because you weren't cornered into them.

The subtext is about dependency. If you need this deal to validate your status, keep your business afloat, or justify the hours you've already sunk, you've already surrendered. The other party can feel it, and they'll price it in. The ability to walk away signals alternatives, self-control, and a clean boundary between your ego and the outcome. It's negotiation as emotional regulation: not mistaking urgency for opportunity.

Contextually, the line belongs to the late-capitalist reality where offers arrive wrapped in scarcity theater: "limited time", "final numbers", "someone else is interested". Koslow's advice is an antidote to manufactured pressure and to sunk-cost thinking, the mental trap that turns past investment into future obligation. Walking away doesn't guarantee a better deal; it guarantees you don't accept a bad one just to avoid the discomfort of no deal. That discomfort is exactly what the quote asks you to monetize.