When you negotiate, how precise are you? Do you ramble in an attempt to seek common ground with the other negotiator? Do you ‘go at it’ and execute the plan you’ve laid out? Do you even bother to create a plan before negotiating?
Have you considered what type of negotiator you are? If the following describes you, here are some suggestions to strengthen your negotiation abilities.
1) Lack knowledge of the negotiation process: You’re not aware of what strategies and tactics to utilize during a negotiation and worse, you don’t know what you don’t know. If this is your style of negotiating …
a) Strive to increase your negotiation abilities by becoming more aware of how to create strategies and utilize tactics to enhance your negotiation outcomes.
b) Learn to ask poignant questions to gain better information. Always remember, the questions you ask determine the answers you receive.
c) Become intuitive. Pay attention to the emotions you experience when negotiating. Your mind is capable of making snap decisions. Sometimes you’re not aware of the source of a decision and the emotion tied to it. Nevertheless, pay attention to them. You’re led by your emotions, which leads to your decisions.
2) Use Shotgun Approach: You don’t create a plan from which to negotiate. Instead, you traipse into a negotiation, hoping for the best outcome by trying one strategy after another, in an attempt to ‘make something happen’.
a) If you use this style of negotiations, develop a negotiation plan that leans towards being more focused versus scattered.
b) While you may have more opportunities to ‘hit’ what you’re aiming for, there’s a greater chance that you’ll expend more energy and resources in your attempts.
c) Set expectations and goals prior to negotiating. In so doing, you’ll decrease your need to use a scattered approach to negotiating.
3) You’re Laser Like: You’ve negotiated in many environments, over many years. You’re aware of some of the negotiation theories and terms, such as OBT (Outcome Based Thinking), BATNA (Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement) and you employ them in your negotiations.
a) You’re at the apex of your negotiation game, but there’s always something new to learn. Consider these points …
i) Good versus bad optics – The discernment of an offer is the way it appears. Learn to ‘paint’ the picture you wish to be viewed.
ii) Perception – ‘Something’ that’s perceived by the other negotiator, regardless of its ‘real’ value, is real to her. Make sure you’re in the ‘mind’ of the other negotiator to ‘see’ things from her perspective (This is something I’m sure you already know. Consider becoming more astute at reading body language to gain additional insight into her mind).
b) Assess the weakest negotiation component in your negotiation arsenal and strengthen it.
c) Discover new ways to invoke emotions in a negotiation. Make sure you assess the difficulties of controlling them (yours and the other negotiator).
Regardless of the negotiation style you use, always strive to give the other negotiator what she seeks and remember, negotiation is part gamesmanship and part delivery. The gamesmanship occurs in the process by which you negotiate. The delivery comes in the form of how you convey the sentiments of the negotiation, as perceived by the other negotiator. When you negotiate, exploit these points … and everything will be right with the world.
The Negotiation Tips Are …
- Regardless of your style of negotiating, always assess the plausibility of the logic you use and how it will be perceived.
- Remember the purpose of a negotiation is to achieve a goal. The clearer you are about the goal, the better you’ll be at preparing for it.
- If you follow your negotiation plan and implement the covenants of it in a manner of precision, you’ll find your way to the outcome you seek.