How to Negotiate
The Making Business Fun Podcast, Episode #106
#106 Negotiations
For the modern day, podcast-listening, touchy-feely business management book reading kind of an entrepreneur, the focus is often on building companies that have a purpose, that have a mission, that are great to their employees, are environmentally conscious and socially responsible. This internal culture for the company starts with the mindset of the entrepreneur, and within the four walls of the company, that culture can flourish.
However, there are times that the entrepreneur, or the executive, will have to go beyond those four walls and interact with the world at large. And, out there, not everyone is as hip to Brené Brown, David Rock, Danial Goleman and Byron Katie. The world is filled full of business owners who have a very, shall we say, old-school approach to doing business. Sometimes, that looks a little bit like the movie Glengarry Glen Ross. Sometimes it looks like the saloon owner in Deadwood. Sometimes, it looks like the sarcastic talent agent in Entourage. And, even though you are nothing like these people, and your management style is much more gentle, perhaps, right minded, perhaps, employee focused, perhaps, sometimes you have to deal with the unenlightened regular-style outside world.
Today we are going to talk about negotiating, specifically in the real world. It's important for the entrepreneur to know the basic strategies and tactics of business negotiations, so that you can choose what strategies and tactics to employ, and also know enough to keep a lookout for them when the other side tries to use them.
These are mostly simple concepts, and will move through them somewhat quickly. So, no fear.
Strategies for negotiation
OK, let's start with the very basic basics. There are two very simple kind of over arching negotiation strategies that you can employ. The first is Win-Win, and the second is Win-Lose.
And you’ve probably heard of these before. You've probably heard someone refer to a situation as being win-win. That means at the end of the day, everyone's a winner — doesn’t it? Sure, but there's more to it than that.
Win-Win is the friendly negotiation strategy in which both people at the table take the time and make the effort to understand what the other person in the negotiation wants and needs. And, furthermore, in win-win negotiations, each negotiator is trying to find a way to make sure the person on the other side of the table does, in fact, get what they want. Of course, you are also concerned with getting what you want, so win-win only really works when both of the negotiators are working with a win-win mindset.
As you can imagine, this is about the friendliest way to go about negotiations, and it may be the most comfortable way of actually doing negotiations. The mood is usually bright and friendly, there's no room for heavy tactics, any antics, any posturing or bad behavior. Typically it's one group of people, or one person, sitting across the table from another group or person, and everyone is very interested in each other and crafting a deal that works best for everybody. When it comes to long-term business relationships, win-win is a real winner.
There is so much goodwill in win-win negotiations, that the negotiators will often go out of their way to help the other person get what they want. People leave the room after the negotiation generally feeling very good about what transpired, and often feel very good about the deal that was struck. This can be very effective at building long-lasting beneficial business relationships.
For a friendly business person who likes working with other friendly business people, win-win is usually the best tactic for negotiating, and will serve you, your business, and the people you work with best, now and in the long run.
The other way to negotiate, win-lose, is the complete opposite of win-win. And you have to be a bit of a hard ass to do win-lose well. The first thing you have to give up when negotiating in a win-lose strategy, is that you are positioning **yourself** as a winner, and intentionally positioning the other person as **the loser**. Meaning that, ideally, you want to get everything that you want, and simultaneously make sure that the other person gets as little of what they want. That means, you're negotiating for the best deal for yourself, but you are also actively negotiating so that the other person across the table gets the worst deal possible. And that takes a special kind of person. The win-lose negotiator cannot worry about anyone else's feelings, can’t be concerned with looking like a nice guy, and must have the strength to really put the other people in the room through the wringer.
A word of caution: this is not for everybody. Then again, this is the only way some people know how to negotiate. This style is great for people who are highly competitive, people who love to argue, people who are mad at the world, and people who generally don't feel good unless they've made someone else feel bad. There's no shame in this, these are negotiations, that's what it said on the meeting agenda, that's where we are in life, and all is fair. The good thing about win-lose, is that there's often very little confusion as to when the person negotiating is approaching it from the standpoint. There's usually very few smiles, and very quickly you can ascertain that this person across the table from you is not negotiating with your best interests in mind.
If this is your style, good for you, that's perfectly fine and you should go for it. Any in many industries, win-lose negotiation strategies are the norm, and you would be at a disadvantage if you use a different negotiating strategy. But be forewarned, that when you strike deals from a win-lose standpoint, because of the negativity, the people leaving the room will have very little goodwill, and down the road as business conditions change you may find these are the very same people who put you low on the list of vendors to be paid, you may become the last person that they invite to the Christmas party, and you may be the first people they sue if things go south. There's a lot to be said for generating goodwill in business, but still — sometimes win-lose is the way to go.
Negotiation Prep
When you are getting ready to go into a round of negotiations, the first thing you have to do is determine which of the two strategies we just went through you are going to employ.
Secondly, you will then want to figure out what negotiation tactics are going to work for you, and we will discuss that in the next part of the podcast. But before all that, you have to decide exactly what you want to get out of the negotiations. You have to know what you are negotiating for, and what success looks like. As I always say, like everything else in business, this is a process. And if you know the process, and apply the process, you're going to do just fine.
By the end of this next little three-question exercise, you’re going to know three important things: what could be the best possible outcome, what would be an acceptable outcome, and what would be the absolute worst outcome you can afford to accept.
Question number one: What is the ultimate win? Sitting back, and closing your eyes, and thinking about this negotiation going absolutely the best possible way it could, what would that mean for you? How big would the numbers be? What concessions would your negotiation opponent make? What would the terms of the deal be? What extras would you receive? What concessions could you get from the other side? What is, all things considered, from all angles, the best case scenario?
Having determined this, get out your pencil and paper, and make a list. It's very important that you, and everyone on your negotiating team, knows exactly what you are negotiating for, and what you would like to receive.
Question number two: what would you settle for? Since we have just discussed the ultimate winning situation in step one, now take a look at what you would consider to be a reasonable place to settle. If you wanted to sell your product for, say $100 apiece, in the best case scenario, what would be a pretty acceptable fallback position? $70? $80? Or $75? Or, talking terms, If you wanted your opponent to pay you cash on delivery, could you fall back to an alternate position of net-7? Net-14?
Knowing what you want, from questions one, and what you can reasonably pull back to, gives you further guidance on how to work the negotiations. Remember, for most people, negotiations can get very confusing, stressful, and nerve-racking. Having these positions clearly stated will really help keep everyone on your negotiation team, crisp, calm and clearheaded.
And question three: what must you get? What do you have to get? What can you not live without? This is the place where we talk about dealbreakers. Every single negotiation has some things that will completely scotch the deal. For example, if you have a product that costs $50 to produce, and the other person on the other side of the table refuses to pay more than $45 for your product, then that is a dealbreaker. You simply cannot run a successful business by selling things that cost $50 for $45.
Let's think about your cash flow, and payment terms. A few seconds ago, we determined our best-case payment schedule would be getting paid cash on delivery. Our fallback position is to accept payment 7 to 14 days from delivery. And let’s say that we determine that at the very worst, we cannot accept payment terms beyond net 30.
Then, If the person on the other side of the table insists on payment 90 days after delivery, afar beyond our must-get terms, then that becomes a dealbreaker.
So, here let's make a list of the things that you absolutely must have to exit negotiations successfully and enter into a deal that is beneficial for your company.
Again, the nice thing about knowing these three sets of parameters, is that when things get heated, you and everyone on your team, will know where you stand. It eliminates a lot of confusion, at a time when things can get heated and confusing very quickly.
I probably don't have to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. It's important that you know as much about the things you are negotiating for, as possible. If you're negotiating on price, it's very important that you know what going rate is for the product. If you're negotiating rent, you need to know what the going rate is in the neighborhood. If you're negotiating terms, you need to know what common terms are in the business industry in which you're operating.
In short, you must know what is the norm, what is reasonable, what is overly optimistic, and what is unreasonable. You need to do this research, and make sure you're coming from a position of knowledge.
And you can assume that negotiators on the other side of the table will have also done their research, and know what they're talking about. And if both sides do their research, at the beginning of the negotiations, the two sides will probably be closer to an agreement than everyone realizes.
Negotiation tactics
Tactics are the shenanigans, postures, and frameworks that negotiators will use to set the mood, to set the tone, to come to agreement, to create goodwill, to create bad will, determine the pace of the negotiations, come up with suggestions or resolutions, and get through breakdowns in negotiations.
The good news is that there's a variety of tactics that are common and well-known, in their most basic form, and even if someone is working a variation of one of these tactics, you'll be able to spot it. Again, when you go into negotiations, you and your team can decide which tactics you want to employ, and you can also be aware of, and watch for, the common tactics that the other team is employing.
Getting Started
In the opening phases of the negotiation, there are five things that you're going to want to keep in mind. First, you're gonna kick things off by asking them a few questions. Second, you're going to do everything you can to avoid making the first offer. Third, you're gonna commit yourself to asking for more than you want. Fourth, you are going to be resolute and not accept the first offer that the other side makes. And number five, you’re going to be cool, calm and project an attitude of being somewhat disinterested. We're gonna run through each one of these, one by one, right now.
An easy way to get negotiations started, is my asking simple, and often obvious, questions.
What kind of solutions are you looking for? What kind of service do you expect to receive? What items are you looking for? What problem are you trying to solve? Starting with simple questions accomplishes a few things. First, it makes you seem cooperative and caring about what the other person is trying to achieve. Second, the answers provide you with a tremendous amount of information that you can use to navigate your approach in the negotiations. These friendly little chats are a clever and sneaky way to discover unknown information and intentions that you hadn't previously considered. Information is power.
Don't make the first offer.
This may seem like rudimentary advice, but you'd be surprised how often this advice is ignored. Absolutely, positively, insist that you and your team do not make the first offer. The reason for this is very simple: it more often than not works against you, and you'll wind up leaving money on the table. If, unknown to you, the other side is willing to pay $1000, but your team makes a first offer of 750, then you’ve left $250 on the table right off the bat. Furthermore, since we’re negotiating, this is the price from which they are going to start to talk you down. How do we counter this?
Next tactic: Ask for more than you want.
This is a negotiation, so everyone must assume that things are gonna be negotiated. And, assuming the tone in the room is light, nobody's probably going to get offended and rush right out of the room because negotiating is happening. So therefore, when you are giving numbers or stipulating terms, ask for more, sometimes much more, then what you really weant. ANd a lot more than you really need. If this was a salary negotiation, for example, and you wanted to receive a salary of $85,000 a year, you would absolutely want to tell the potential employer that you want $100,000 — a point from which they could negotiate you down to 85. When you settle on 85, everyone feels like they got a bargain and everyone’s happy. Not to mention, how will you feel if you want 85, ask for 100, and wind up settling at 92?
Starting higher than what you want, is the surest way to get you what you need. And don’t worry about being too high. The other person’s job is to provide a counter offer and find a way to met in the middle.
The same dynamics apply in negotiating price, terms, conditions, whatever — if you want to get paid seven days after you deliver the product, you must start the negotiations by asking for cash on delivery, or payment in full at the time of delivery. If you want payment in full, at time of delivery, then you must ask for the customer to pre-pay seven days in advance.
You see what I'm doing here. Whatever it is that you want, you are asking for more, knowing that no matter what you say, the good negotiator on the other side the table is going to talk you down. If you want 10, you have to ask for 12.
Refuse the first offer.
No matter what the first offer is, the good negotiator will absolutely refuse it as being unacceptable. It doesn't need to be mean, it doesn't need to be rude, you can even say it with a laugh and smile. But you must absolutely not accept the first offer no matter what it is. Remind yourself that the first offer is merely the negotiation starting point, and as we just discussed in the last little bit here, if they ask for 12, then it's your job to negotiate them down to 10. You can’t just accept their first offer of 12.
The last of the opening tactics:
Appear aloof and seem somewhat dis-interested.
As they say, there are plenty of fish in the sea, and although that is advice often attributed to the dating game, it's true in business too. If you're dealing with a supplier of plumbing parts, you know darn well that there are many other suppliers that you could choose from, and therefore it's very important that you approach negotiations with an attitude of somewhat vague disinterest. This is just a tactic, of course, and it simply means not being too excited, eager, overly friendly, jumpy, edgy, nervous, or eager. If you find yourself getting a little too interested, pause and do a mental exercise: sit back, breathe, relax, and think of all the other companies, vendors, buyers, and sellers, out there in the world that you could get be negotiating with in place of the person you are currently sitting across the table from. Even if there’s nobody else on earth who can give you what the other side is selling, pretend there is.
Negotiations in Progress
Pretty soon in negotiations, you were going to look around the room and realize that things are no longer in the opening stages. You'll notice that some time has gone off the clock, things are getting active and moving quickly. This is the middle stage of the negotiation process, and things have become a little bit different. At this point, pretty much everyone knows what everyone else wants, and now we're getting down to negotiating the specifics. And, there are specific tactics specifically for this middle stage of negotiations.
Let's start with one cute little setup that you may have heard of already: good cop/bad cop. You’ve seen it on TV down at the precinct house, but believe me, it works just as well at any business or legal negotiation.
When you decide to play this game, you and your partner assume the roles of someone who is very agreeable, good cop, and someone who is very disagreeable, the bad cop. Adopting these personas makes it much easier for the team to say no, or for the team to disagree, or for the team to pretend like they're upset, or dissatisfied, or disinterested. Bringing forth this or any other type of negativity, is the specific and strategic role of the bad cop.
Consider this — we’re all nice people. It's very hard to be negative when you are normally a pretty positive person. It's just not in the positive person’s DNA. But a member of a negotiation team, when in the role of the bad cop, can very easily, and often with quite a bit of fun, be the person who says no. Be the person who laughs with scorn. Be the person who rolls his eyes. Be the person who scoffs at deal points and says “no way.” The role of the bad cop is to say no, to be disagreeable, be disinterested, be ready to walk away from the table, be ready to work with other people, be ready to throw the whole negotiation in the trashcan because the bad cop believes — or rather, pretends to believe — that there's a better deal to be had somewhere else.
All this negativity could be a bad thing, if it wasn't balanced by the good cop persona. The good cop is the balance to the bad cop. And this is the only way that this game works. For the bad cop to be the bad cop, there must be someone else in the room on the same negotiation team, who can smile, be friendly, tell the bad cop to simmer down, tell the person across the table “don't worry we'll work it out,” and otherwise keep the mood light, airy, positive, and moving in the right direction. I'm sure you can see that if every member of your negotiation team is either overwhelmingly positive, or overwhelmingly negative, things are going to quickly go off track, but a good partnership of good cop and bad cop can be very effective at making sure that your overall team presents an overall attitude of friendliness and good cheer, and also has the teeth and the tenacity to stick up for itself and insist on a good deal. Done well, this is often the best way to be forceful at negotiating, while still preserving goodwill and positive vibes after the negotiation.
And I must say, either one of these roles can be pretty fun to play, provided that you have the comfort and confidence that your partner is going to play the opposite. It’s much easier to be the bad cop knowing that the good cop is standing by to smooth everything over. Of course, it's got to be proportional. If the bad cop is going stand up, and march across the room to kick over a trashcan, then the good cop need to be willing to jump up, run around the table, and give everyone over there a shoulder massage. The antics must be proportional and in balance.
Next tactic: remain calm, collected, and aloof. This is the opposite of fawning over, or otherwise falling in love, with whatever it is the people on the other side of the table are offering. If you were negotiating, say, the price of a suite of software products that could help your company run much much better, it needs to be your stated position to not to ooh-and-aww and otherwise fall in love with the solution. As part of your negotiation tactics, it is your job to present an attitude of skepticism and doubt. Pretend to be unsure of the product benefit. Be skeptical that it would work for you. Insist you’re getting along fine without their solution. Don't fall into the trap of becoming a sales person for the other side, by falling in love with what they offer. Remember, this is a negotiation, and everyone has a role to play. Yours is to be skeptical and somewhat standoffish with your opposition’s solution or product.
The Red Herring.
The red herring is something that you present on your list of must-haves that, in reality, you don’t want at all. You are pretending to want it, specifically so you can negotiate it away for something you do want.
If you're at the car dealership, and you're buying a car, let's assume you don't want a roof rack. In this case you, would tell the sales person that the car absolutely, positively, without question, must have a roof rack. The roof rack is the red herring. Later on, you will negotiate to a position where you give up on your roof racks — but only if the dealer throws in all-weather floormats. The red herring roof-racks is something you never wanted and happily traded away for something you actually did want: the floor mats.
Because you are appearing to give something up, it makes it much easier for the person on the other side of the table will give up something as well — in this case, floor mats.
This is an important part of negotiations, the idea that there is equal give and take. In negotiations, it can't just be you asking for things. You must be willing and able to trade away one thing for every one thing you receive. That’s why if you have a few red herrings on your list, you can trade them away without really losing anything at all.
Next, be flexible and imaginative.
There may be things that your opponent absolutely wants, that you absolutely cannot, or will not give. That happens from time to time. Therefore, a little bit of flexibility and imagination is called for. This usually takes the shape of counter offers and counter proposals. A quick example of this is in salary negotiations. If you want an $85,000 salary, and the employer is dead stuck at $80,000, then you can get imaginative and, counter offer, an $80,000 salary provided that they throw in an additional two weeks of vacation. The company get’s its 80, and you get some well-earned time off.
If a vendor is asking to pay seven days after they receive the product, but you were insisting that they pay cash on delivery, one of the parties could suggest an imaginative compromise of the vendor providing payment on the date of delivery — but with a check post dated for seven days in the future. That's an imaginative solution, that is flexible and shows goodwill, and benefits both parties. And it gets the deal unstuck.
Next mid stage negotiation tactic: shut up and keep shutting up.
This is something they teach in journalism school as an interview technique. Be quiet, let the room become exceedingly uncomfortable, force your opponent to be the first person to speak, and what they say will most likely be beneficial to you. So, when the options are presented to you, the negotiation terms are revealed, or a point in contention get expressed, sit there stone-faced and don't say a word. Let the room grow uncomfortable, let the clock on the wall tick, let the buzz of the fluorescent lights grow loud, and wait for your opponent to crack. You'll be surprised how often this tactic works.
Silence makes people extremely nervous, extremely jittery, extremely jumpy, and often leads to a screw up, or a concession, or a revision of the terms just presented that is in your favor. Special note, this only works if every person on your team understands that it is a tactic that is going to be employed, and when it is employed, they must also sit back and shut up. This doesn't work if you're giving your opponent the silent treatment, and your junior negotiating partner to the right, screws it up by running his mouth and providing concessions himself.
Last mid-stage tactic: make them do the negotiating.
Remember how a little bit earlier we said don't make the first offer? This is kind of like that, but used mid-flight if the person across the table names a price you don't like. Instead of countering with an alternate price, you simply counter with "you're going to have to do better than that." And refuse to name a number or counter of any kind. Knock the ball back into their court without naming a number, by simply telling them that their offer was unacceptable, and leave it up to them to name the next level of price.
When Things Get Stuck
When things get stuck, or you're not getting what you want and you see no way of getting through it, this is called an impasse. And when that happens there's a few tactics that you can use to get through it. I'll warn you now, most of them are pretty dramatic.
First, we are going to start with the grand gesture. If things are stuck, everyone's frustrated, and nothing is going forward, then this may be an interesting time to introduce the grand gesture.
With a grand gesture, you, in the spirit of goodwill, consent to giving the other person something that they really want. But as you do so, you explain that you are doing this only in the spirit that the goodwill will be reciprocated equally. This is a simple tit-for-tat negotiating technique, but because you're doing it in the spirit of goodwill, at the time when negotiations have stopped, it carries a much bigger impact. And it can often be a way to get things back on track.
Next tactic, you absolutely lose your shit. From time to time, it can be advisable to show your teeth in a tactical way. This is the time to adopt a persona of a madman, grow outraged, and get really out of control. Obviously, this needs to be done with a good amount of finesse, and you must absolutely positively not make this personal in any way. This is not the time to insult someone, but this is the time where you insinuate that the deal is insulting. It is OK to be outraged at the negotiation circumstances, it is not OK to be insulting to the other people in the room.
However, this can be a lot of fun, because this is when you get to take your shoes off and slam it on the table, as the Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev did when while addressing the United Nations General assembly back in the 1960s. This is the time when you get to hop up, run around the room and kick over the trashcan. This is where you get to stand up, put your hands down on the table, and announce very loudly that you're going to sue everyone in the room. This is when you can use your fist to pound a sandwich flat, right there on the conference room table.
This shows that you mean business, and it shows that you are a seriously passionate negotiator. But, it can also make people think that you were a bit of a jerk, or somewhat unbalanced, or out of your mind, so be aware of that. And nowadays, if you go too far, you could get yourself in a lot of hot water.
Still, there’s a good chance that the blow up will lead to people on the other side of the table backing down, and as everyone eventually cools down, normal business relations will resume and everyone will get back to playing nice. In the right kind of negotiations, this can be a very effective technique, but if you use it too often, you're probably going to get a reputation as a nut job. So watch for that.
Also, last note, if the people on the other side of the table blow their stack, sit back and smile because you know exactly what's going on. They're creating a fuss to get what they want; they're not really mad or upset, it's just a negotiation tactic.
The next two tactics are pretty sweet, particularly when they follow the blowup with which we just talked about.
First of these two is the ultimatum. The ultimatum is the absolute and non-negotiable, statement of choice from which you and your team will not back down. And its most classic sense, the ultimatum is “either he goes or I go.” So, for us it might be, “$15 a barrel, or we’re outta here!” The ultimatum can break a log jam pretty effectively, but it can often lead to the end of negotiations if you or the other team employs the next of the tactics.
Which is the walkout.
The walk out is pretty dramatic, as it means you and your team get up and walk away from negotiations. You can walk away for five minutes, you can walk away for five hours, or five days. You can leave the table, you can leave the room, you can leave the state, on a jet airplane. Walkouts can be done in sizes both small and large, and with a walkout, there's a lot of messages that come with it. It states in no uncertain terms, I won't be bullied, I don't need this deal, I'm willing to walk out of here, my time is being wasted, and I’m gone. It can also communicate that you are in fact an unreasonable negotiation partner. However, when there's no other place to go, the walkout is an option. Used to its full potential, the walkout has two parts. The first part is the walking out. And the second part is coming back to the table and getting the negotiations back on track. If you really want the deal to go through, and you are willing to employ the walkout to get that deal to closing, then you need to consider not only what kind of walkout you're going to do, but also what it is going to take to get everyone back to the table and get the deal done.
Finishing the Deal
Eventually, you are going to run out of things to negotiate upon, and if you've done your job well, you will be close to considering a final deal. This will be the time when you are ready to decide to go forward with the deal or not. Is the time to agree or disagree. If you get to this point, and you've received everything that you wanted, or at least received everything in line with what you could reasonably expect, and you haven't given up anything too terribly bad, and all in all it's a pretty good deal, then feel free to go ahead and sign on the dotted line, make everyone happy, and then go off to a big fat steak dinner. If you reach the end of the negotiations, however, and you still feel like you haven't got all that you deserved, there's still a few last-ditch tactics that you could employ.
In the first tactic, we’re going to slip something in at the very last minute.
Proceed to the absolute end of the negotiation, the point where everyone thinks that everything has been settled, the point when everyone is leaning back, relaxing, and getting ready to go out and pop a bottle of champagne. You can even wait until everyone is standing up, patting each other on the back, and starting to head for the door. That’s when you, all the sudden, make one last demand. It could be something new, it could be something that was previously swept off the table, it could be something previously negotiated away. Probably, it should be something that ultimately is not a dealbreaker for you, but it still a real cherry on top of the sundae.
Asking for something at the last minute will make everyone groan, but this might work just because everyone’s exhausted, and having just seemingly struck a deal, they are more likely to make just one last concession.
Watch for this technique being used on you and be prepared in advance to know what to do — accept the concession or bring everyone back to the table for another round of negotiations. This so-called one last thing tactic can be very effective, although can also be very annoying. Doesn't matter, all is fair in negotiations.
And in the very end, last tactic of them all, if you're just not getting what you want, you can walk away. Declaring no deal, and stepping back from negotiations and leaving the playing field is the most dramatic tactic you and your team can employ, especially if a lot of people have been working long and hard to get the deal done. But, showing the willingness to walk away can give you tremendous leverage, and therefore advantage, over your negotiating partners, and may lead to major concessions in your favor. This goes back to something we discussed much earlier in today's episode which is: don't fall in love with the other guys products, and don’t be too interested.
Final Thoughts
We said this pretty clearly in episode 103 of the podcast when we were discussing rent: everything is negotiable. And it's true. Everything is negotiable. But what you negotiate for, and how you negotiate for it, and how you treat the other people in the room, says an awful lot about your business, about your people, about your culture, and about how you guys want to play with everyone else in the world. Negotiations are negotiations — yes, that's true. Special circumstances and alternate law. But, these are also places where lasting impressions are made. So, it's important that you negotiate in good faith, at least to yourself, and to the values of your company. That's not to say that you can't insist on getting what you want, and negotiating from a position of strength. It just means that you go about negotiating in a way that's consistent with the company you want to be, acting the way you want to act.
Hopefully today, you've discovered that negotiation is not some sort of, or rather doesn't need to be, something actually scary. Negotiation can be tense, but remember that almost all negotiation is carefully calculated, pre-scripted, and the application of a few simple business tactics that we've outlined here. Being able to use them them yourself, as well as being able to recognize them being used upon you, provides a tremendous advantage at the table.
The most important thing we talked about today was knowing what you want before you enter into negotiations. You may be very excited to go do good cop bad cop, but everyone on your team must be very, very clear on what it is you are negotiating for, and the answers to these questions: What would be the absolute best case scenario? What would we settle for and be happy to get? And what must we absolutely, positively get? Knowing these three dimensions, as well as deciding to employ either a win win or win-lose negotiating strategy, is often all you need to successfully get in and out of a negotiation in a way that’s beneficial for you and your company.
Recommended Reading:
Negotiate Like a Pro, by John Dolan
Getting to Yes, by Roger Fisher