4 Steps to More Effective Negotiation

Everybody at some point will find themselves in a situation where the ability to negotiate their position is needed. Whether you are haggling at a market stall on a holiday, negotiating costs with suppliers or brokering a deal with a customer, being able to successfully negotiate will help you to be successful in whatever goals you are wanting to achieve. Our steps to negotiation success are designed to help people who are new to negotiating or find it difficult.

1. Set your parameters of success
Make sure you have a plan of approaching any negotiation. Establish in your mind parameters which you can work in. Figure out the lowest and highest values determining best and worst case scenario. This will give you an area known as the settlement area to work in. Ensure you never drop below your lowest level and every deal you make will be a win!

2. Research before you go into battle

There is no harm in research. Winging or off the cuff negotiation is ten times as hard regardless of whether you are a salesman with the gift of the gab. In the book Bargaining for Advantage, by Wharton professor G. Richard Shell they state that research helps people achieve the ‘consistency principle’ which is their need to appear reasonable. This means that by researching what your offer is in relation to competitors or standards, you can provide an offer in principle that sounds reasonable.

Researching also instils you with confidence, if you can approach a negotiation with the assurances of intrinsically knowing the product, service, topic you are discussing then you will are increasingly aware of where you stand in the negotiation and can adequately bargain your position with success.

3. Be firm and embrace silence
A key step to negotiation is to provide definitive figures, if you offer ranges of timelines and figures then you have already conceded ground and chances are you will receive the lowest value or wait on the latest deadline. Don’t be afraid to be firm, set out your stall and let the other party try and barter you down.
One of the most dreaded moments in a negotiation is the silence but in order to be successful you must embrace it. A huge part of being firm is not having to fill the void when silence is present.

4. Approach it with the right attitude
A large portion of any form of success is having the right attitude in the first place. If you approach a negation with fear and hesitancy then there is a large chance it will go sour. Instead if you approach it with a positive attitude and enjoy the negotiation process and its ebbs and flows then you are much more likely to see the results you targeted at the beginning of the process.

Img Credit: @uberof202 ff

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