Negotiation Tips: How to Be a Winner
Posted on December 3, 2007
Filed Under Career, Psychology, Personal Development
“Negotiation is an art. Treat it like one.” - Donald Trump
We negotiate all the time.
Each day we face some opportunity for negotiation. Let’s face it, negotiation is a part of our every day life and dare I say that almost everything is negotiable? So being able to acquire powerful negotiation skills so you can negotiate effectively and successfully can make a big difference in your outcomes.
Negotiation Tips and Goals:
- Active Listening - If in person, use body language to demonstrate your
attentiveness. Make eye contact, respond to statements with visible recognition, and do not allow yourself to be distracted by other activities or people. In not in person, be direct in questions and patient when receiving responses. Use “Active Listening Techniques” to get the most out of the communication. Listen for the Values implied as well as the ones stated.
- Park your emotions outside from where the negotiations take place. It is critically important to keep calm, focused, patient, professional and friendly at all times, including those times when the other person loses his or her cool.
- Work from goals, not positions! The most important thing to remember is to work from common goals, not positions. When parties negotiate based on positions, any compromise feels like loss because someone loses ground on their specific position (i.e. lowering price). If you can shift the emphasis to what each party really wants rather than what their stance is, it allows room for flexibility to occur without creating a winner/loser atmosphere, hopefully allowing the difficult negotiator to back down without losing face.
- Ask Questions Even when you think that you may know the answers, prompt the other person to explain the situation or opportunity from their perspective. Listen closely to the perspectives and emotions that are implied, as well as the ones that are stated.
- Be a Partner, not a Judge Focus on the facts and control emotions. If there are emotions, understand the facts and circumstances that contributed to creating the emotional response
- Test Limits. When the other side claims to have put forth its “bottom line” — test it.
Acknowledge their position and redirect the conversation to what you are able or not able to do and refocus on interests and the opportunity for mutual gain.
- Be honest. In a negotiation, whenever you are ethical and honest even though it costs you something, you gain points. If a counterpart makes an invoice error that is to your advantage and you inform him of it, that costs you something–but it also earns you respect. A client recently called to inform us that we had not sent an invoice for services we had performed for her. That one telephone call let us know that this client is honest. That fact will undoubtedly affect all our future negotiations with her.
- Have multiple options. Going into a negotiation with multiple options will help both you and your counterpart achieve your goals. If someone proposes, an option you feel is unethical, you will be ready with another, ethical option for accomplishing the same goal. Sometimes you may encounter negotiators who are unilateral thinkers who have only one option. With them, it is their way or the highway. If their way is unethical in your opinion, you have only one option–to walk away from the deal.
- Know what is not negotiable. Whenever we work with bank employees, we love to ask the following question: “How much can you steal from this bank before you get fired?” The question always draws a laugh because, of course, everyone knows that anyone who steals from a bank would be fired immediately. This is simply not an area that is negotiable. Knowing what is negotiable and what is not will make you a much more effective negotiator.
- Make concessions incrementally and gradually. Many people have different speeds at which they like to engage in the negotiation dance. Some have no patience for the continual back and forth of give a little here and a little there. Yet, in the beginning resist the urge to get to your bottom line quickly. For others, the give and take of a drawn out negotiation dance is par for the course. Work incrementally and you will have a better chance of getting at your end game. Moving too fast can destroy the process more than moving too slow can. Taking it slow can allow more time for creative thinking and continual exploration of other options.
- Write it down Take notes during the conversation or document the highlights when the communication if done. Share the document, confirm consensus, and identify the next critical steps if continuing the negotiation, the sale, the issue resolution, or the general commitments. Conversations lead to negotiations, and these result in mutual commitments. Document the commitment to avoid confusion that can come from difference of opinion or perspective.
Negotiating is a complex process but one worth mastering. If you keep in mind that you are responsible for the success or failure of negotiation, and if you follow the tips above, you will find the process easier.
Related Posts :
Comments
4 Responses to “Negotiation Tips: How to Be a Winner”
Leave a Reply
[…] admin wrote an interesting post today on Negotiation Tip: How to be a WinnerHere’s a quick excerptDonald Trump. We negotiate all the time. Each day we face some opportunity for negotiation. Let’s face it, negotiation is a part of our every day life and dare I say that almost everything is negotiable? … […]
Exciting blog post discussing Personal development for a perfect life! Always love your blog!
Cool view talking about Personal development for a perfect life. Always enjoy this articles.
Maybe it can get a little complicated if used in a different way.