Every time that we enter into a negotiation, we always have one single goal in mind: how can I get more? We want to be able to walk away from the table with more than we arrived with. In order to make that happen, I have two valuable suggestions for you to use during your next negotiation.
Teams Are Always Better
Before starting any negotiation, we’re always faced with one critical question: do I go this alone or should I take a team in with me? It turns out that the answer to this question has been known for quite some time: if possible, you should always build a team to handle a negotiation.
If you are going to be the leader of the negotiating team then you are going to have to take the time to make sure that everyone on the team knows what you want to get out of the upcoming negotiation and how you plan on going about making that happen.
In order to get the most out of the negotiating team that you’ll be working with you are going to have to take the time to go over each issue that will be negotiated with the team. You’re going to want to establish goals for each issue and get the team’s buy-in to make it happen.
Talk With The Devil’s Advocate
Before you start a negotiation, wouldn’t it be nice to know what the other side is going to say to you during the negotiations. Knowing this, you could start to formulate your responses even before the negotiations start.
It turns out that this kind of mind reading actually is possible. You can do it because you actually know more about the other side than you may realize. Take the time before the negotiations start to anticipate what you think the other side will do and what their tactics during the negotiations might be.
If you play the “devil’s advocate” and create counters to what you are planning on saying during the negotiations, then you’ll find that you are more prepared when the negotiations begin for real. All of this takes time to do correctly, so make sure that that you allocate the time that you need before the negotiations start. You’ll be glad that you did!
What All Of This Means For You
Our goal in any principled negotiation is to walk away from the table with the best deal that is possible for us to get. In order to make that happen, we need to have the skills that are required in order to conduct a successful negotiation.
The first of these skills is to recognize that if we can bring a team to the table instead of just ourselves, then we’ll always do better. As the leader of the team you need to take steps to make sure that everyone has the same vision of what you want to accomplish during the negotiations. You have the ability to prepare for the negotiation by playing the devil’s advocate before the discussions start.
There is no one magic set of negotiation style or negotiating techniques that will allow you to get more out of your next negotiation. However, by using these two simple techniques, you’ll be able to give yourself better odds of walking away with the best deal possible.
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Negotiating Skills™
Question For You: How big of a team do you think that you should bring to your next negotiation?
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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time
As human beings, we are naturally inclined to believe what other people tell us. That’s how we make it through a day and that’s how we are able to get things done. Then there are negotiations. The other side of the table wants something from us and we can’t always be certain that they are telling us the whole truth. When should we believe them, and when should we have some doubt?