With negotiation skills in hand, getting what you want becomes a whole lot easier.
When buying (or selling), knowing what powers are at work, as well as some basic principles in negotiating will help you win at work. Sadly, negotiating skills are one of the least emphasised at school, college or in the workplace. And yet they represent the single most powerful force behind driving up the bottomline, or impacting your budget.
Here are some negotiating principles and tips to help you reach a better conclusion. This article is aimed at helping you look holistically at what great negotiators do, and how you can use this information to improve your negotiation skills.
Principle #1: Deal with people as though the relationship will be for life:
Where there is a gap (I call this the agreement gap) between what you want and what another party wants, approach the negotiation from a perspective that the relationship is for life. Even if you know you are unlikely to see the other party ever again, adopting this principle changes your entire approach in the areas of respect, cordiality and rapport-building processes.
Principle #2: Recognise feelings as facts.
Take no personal offense if your initial offer is turned down. As long as both of you are still talking , it means the other party still wants a solution, but maybe not yours. Their style may be different from yours, but keep cool and do not be offended by disparaging remarks about your offer.
When negotiating with staff over benefit, again appreciate that certain beliefs and feelings held by them may be so strong, they appear as facts. Do not discount these feelings in a negotiation.
Principle #3: Understand your own negotiating style, and be prepared to adjust.
If you consider the basic five styles of negotiating agreement gaps (Win-Win, Win-Lose, Lose-Win, Lose-Lose, Compromise), understand that your preferred style may place you at a disadvantage in a negotiation if the underlying value of the transaction is at odds with your style. In our flagship negotiation skills programme, Negotiating To Win, we like emphasizing that context is everything. If you adopt a Win-Win stance when you are clearly in a stronger position, and that the product being negotiated for is a commodity. Adopting a Win-Lose style ‘may' be more beneficial in the short term or where the quality of the relationship matters less. However, adopting a Win-Lose style may seriously impact your progress if, for example, your partner on the other side of the table holds a proprietary software tool that is key to your organization's success, and they have more choices than you.
As a whole, in the thick of haggling and negotiating, it's key to get the bigger picture which includes the potential length of the relationship, type of product and your own style of negotiations.
Principle #4: Discover what type of power is affecting the negotiation
You are negotiating for a software package created by vendor and you begin to talk about price when a news break announces that the firm that makes the software has been bought by Microsoft. Overnight, the anticipated price changes upwards. The other side now has Legitimacy Power, allowing them to command higher prices. Are you willing to walk away? If you can, you have more Risk Power, and thus a stronger position.
Others may include powers like Expert Power. A negotiation involving the finer points, or value of hiring a top expat financial officer can be impacted If there is an expert in this area of compensation and benefit also attending the meeting. Depending whose expert it is, he/she could evaluate the quality of the offer made. Just make sure you have the expert on your side!
Here are three of the 30 workplace negotiation tactics we teach:
The Flinch: You apply for some leave during a busy period at work, and your boss flinches - using either facial expressions or verbalizes his pain at losing you for two weeks. Doesn't the use of the Flinch discourage you from applying? Perhaps you might hurriedly apply for just a week's leave. You can however, counter the Flinch (also commonly used when a price is revealed in an offer) by being determined NOT to be influenced by it.
Make a comment on the offer: Imagine a seller for a service has mentioned his price for the first time. I say, "Hmmm....that's a lot more than we usually pay for product XYZ." Notice I haven't rejected the offer, but have just made a comment. Often, it's enough to make the other party backpedal somewhat. A counter to this tactic is to ignore the comment.
Repeat the offer again, followed by a pause: e.g." You're offering $10,000?" Resist saying anything after the pause. Many parties will often improve their offer.
Good luck in using these tactics and principles, and remember: in business, it's not what you know, it's what you negotiate that matters.
David Lim
Leadership and negotiation coach, best-selling author, and two-time Mt Everest expedition leader.
Everest Motivation Team
david@everestmotivation.com
