How To Get What You Want In A Negotiation

It doesn’t have to be so complicated.

Everything’s negotiable, but not everything should be negotiated.

Too often negotiations become about winners and losers when that’s not the point.

Both sides ratchet up the pressure on each other — and themselves — to the point where they lose sight of what they wanted in the first place.

It doesn’t have to be so complicated.

Here’s how to approach your next negotiation to ensure you get what you want.

Be honest with yourself about what you want.

“More” is not a goal.

Don’t enter a negotiation with a vague goal and don’t assume more money/responsibility/opportunity/prestige/anything is necessarily better.

You can’t get what you want from a negotiation unless you have a specific and clear idea of the result you hope to achieve.

That sounds obvious, but most negotiation goals are too vague.

In addition to a specific vision for what you want, you also need to think through what you don’t want and what you don’t value.