8 Steps Guide on How to Negotiate? Explore the Art of Negotiation
Negotiation is a skill that plays an essential role in various aspects of our lives. Whether you are an employee seeking a salary increase or a normal person seeking to buy a new house with better deals. Negotiation is essential for maximizing benefits and minimizing risks.
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” Theodore Roosevelt
Here, in this article, I will explain the formula for better negotiation that Michael Wheeler mentioned in his book, “The Art of Negotiation”. without further ado, let's dive into the topic.
Create a Negotiation Plan
Before entering a negotiation, you need to sit with yourself and strategically think about what you are negotiating for, and what you’re expected to face on the negotiation table.
Imagine yourself in a negotiation for a pay increase and you believe that you deserve higher pay than what the employer is offering.
If your request got rejected, what would you do?
Let me tell you what you will do. Most likely, you will lose control of the negotiation and therefore you will leave the negotiation table with less benefit than what you actually think.
It is good to work based on what you want, but unfortunately, it is not good to work without a plan. You need to leave the negotiation with the highest benefit you can get. You can do this only if you have a negotiation plan.
First, you need to start your own map by selecting the main goals beside the secondary goals. This is similar to the plan “B” concept. When your main plan, plan “A” fails, then you will move to your secondary plan, plan “B”.
For instance, if you ask your company for an annual salary of $120K and they rejected your request, then you can offer $100K and $90K. These alternatives will give you more flexibility when negotiating and help you get a better result.
This concept saved the life of a military squad when they got lost in the Alps mountains in Switzerland. The squad was facing death in the wildfire until a soldier found a map in his pocket. They followed the map and found the way.
What is interesting in this story is that the map was not for the Alps mountains, it was actually for the Pyrenees mountain range.
The squad assumed that they were following the right map. This gave them the confidence and motivation required to save their life.
Develop Plan “B”
Before setting with the opponent, you need to ask yourself;
What is the best time to make this deal?
You should always choose the right time to do the negotiation.
For example, selling skiing kits in spring is not really the wisest thing to do. It is wiser to sell it in winter when many people want to go skiing. Otherwise, you will get the minimum benefit you can get from the product.
Then, ask yourself, what is the best place to make this deal?
You cannot negotiate the price of vegetables in big grocery stores like “Walmart”, but you can negotiate the price in the farmer’s market. If you want to negotiate, then here is the place.
However, in many ways, things will not always go as planned, so it is important to be flexible and be ready for a secondary plan, plan ”B”.
For example, a company owner wanted to expand and buy another company, but he did not have the resources to do so. Every time he bids, he gets rejected. Then he changed the plan and sold his own company to the second company, and he got a good price accordingly.
The idea here is to be ready to change plans as needed
Maintain Focus and Emotional Resilience
Even professional negotiators sometimes feel nervous. Sometimes, even professional negotiators sometimes feel nervous. Sometimes, they are not sure if they will succeed in the negotiation and may be afraid of embarrassment.
However, they always can control their emotional reactions while they negotiate. The better negotiators are the ones who can be calm and creative at the same time. Exactly like surgeons.
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Albert Einstein
Surgeons should always be calm and confident in their skills while considering the complications they will face during surgeries.
The nature of their job requires them to have complete control of their minds and emotions. They need to avoid circumstances that may negatively impact their emotions.
For example, if you get angry by traffic then next time you will need to take the way that has less traffic to avoid getting angry. Getting angry may negatively affect your driving and cause an accident.
Be ready for a surprise and do not make your negotiation day like your normal day. They are not the same…
Embrace Your Inner Actor
Great negotiators are the ones who know that they may face unexpected things and are ready for surprises.
It is easy. You need to know the improvisation. It is the acting style where actors do not follow the script. The golden rule for improvisation is “Do not shut up.”
Professional actors always keep calm, especially when they are overwhelmed with nervousness. One of the ways to approach negotiation is by being an improvisation actor. Trust yourself and your mind's attendance.
Watching the situation, careful listening, and the power of influencing others are the essentials of negotiation.
It is important to understand what the opponent wants and what they expect as a result. you need to focus on the hidden signs such as the sound and the way of talking. If you do that, you will definitely know when to mitigate and when to avoid talking about certain topics.
Acquire Experience and Study Negotiation Skills
Having experience is important to predict the opponent’s next move and understand his/her plan.
Your experience will grow every day as you negotiate in your job. You can read books about negotiation, participate in workshops, or even listen to others while they negotiate.
In negotiation, the options that result in maximum benefit and have a strong probability that this will be mutually agreed upon are ones to be considered.
However, you may make a wrong move and your opponents expose your plan. In this case, you may change your strategy and use your improvisation skills.
Leverage the First Minutes of Negotiation
Many people want to win the first impression in negotiation. It determines your relationship with the opponent and the negotiation atmosphere. Thus, you need to:
- Watch your language and use the perfect words
Instead of saying “I need to do this”, you can say “Let's solve the problem together”. Instead of saying ” I don’t know” Say “I’m not sure”.
2. Clearly communicate your point of view and use body language.
It will be easier to accept or reject an offer when leaving a good impression, Just say “No” when the offer is not interesting. If the offer is acceptable but still not perfect. Then, you will keep negotiating to get better results.
If you are in a situation that requires you to reject an offer but you do not want to lose the deal entirely, then you can use the “yes-no-yes” method.
Example of, let’s assume that your mom’s boss at work required her to do a new project during the weekend. If the mom accepted the job, then it may impact her family.
Thus, she will say “No” and will suggest a solution that is good for both sides, such as working extra hours on a regular weekday. This is an example of good negotiation.
By using this method, you may minimize risks which will keep the negotiation going.
Think Outside the Box
When things get worse, we need to think out of the box to make a difference. The author of this book wrote another book which contains 1400 pages.
The publications told him to reduce his work to make the book smaller. However, the author finished his contract with the publisher.
Fortunately, he could find another publisher who agreed to distribute the book in two different parts. As a result of the author’s intelligence, he could sell a huge amount of books within a limited time.
The key is to look at things from different perspectives. Money is not always the main thing in the negotiation. You may accept a less money contract if it provides value in the long term, so what you lose today will be obtained tomorrow over a long period of time.
Close The Deal
You need to conclude the deal and convince the opponent to accept it. It is important to always be honest and polite. This will help you close the deal and will make the opponent open for more deals in the future.
If the deal was not complete, then focus on what the opponent may lose. Imagine you need to convince your boss that the company should accept a new project.
Here you can mention the benefit of getting the job as well as the risk if the new project was not obtained.
In addition, make things simple and do not make many options. Studies show that people cannot make decisions easily when many options are available.
In summary, dribbling is one of the fundamentals of negotiation. Do not start negation before making main and secondary plans. Also, you need to practice improvisation and focus on how you would give a good impression of yourself.
With that said, do not lose your value and put yourself in the opponent’s place. When you sell a bad product, you do not need to lie about the product. Do not fake things and think about the limit of information that you can provide to clients. Honestly, you are the only one who knows exactly the ethics of negotiation, so do not neglect them and be you!
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