developing NEGOTIATION as a business skill can be tricky & treacherous thing! You mind lapses at the critical moment of reckoning!!!
Business
skill building is a tricky & treacherous thing! You mind lapses at the
critical moment of reckoning!!! Then your learning is just an adornment not a tool
for success. The key to success is to sustain and reinforce through constant re-learning and even a deliberate
attempt to unlearn the stubborn old habits.
Here
are some tips to help the sales managers
to meet the challenges of negotiating. "Challenge" means not taking
things at face value. It means thinking for yourself. You must be able to make
up your own mind, as opposed to believing everything you are told. On a
practical level, this means you have the right to question You cannot negotiate
unless you are willing to challenge the validity of the opposing position.
GREAT
NEGOTIATORS AIM HIGH AND EXPECT THE BEST OUTCOME.
Successful negotiators
are optimists. If you expect more, you'll get more. A proven strategy for
achieving higher results is opening with an extreme position. Sellers should
ask for more than they expect to receive, and buyers should offer less than
they are prepared to pay. People who aim higher do better. Your optimism will
become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Conversely, if you have low expectations,
you will probably wind up with a less satisfying outcome.
Don't be afraid to ask
for what you want. If you don’t
ask, you don’t get. Another tenet of negotiating is, “Go
high, or go home.” As part of your preparation, define your highest justifiable price.
As long as you can argue convincingly, don’t be afraid to aim high. But no
ultimatums, please. Take-it-or-leave-it offers are usually out of place
BE
ASSERTIVE AT THE ROUGH EDGES
Successful negotiators
are assertive and challenge everything – they know that everything is
negotiable. I call this negotiation consciousness. Negotiation
consciousness is what makes the difference between negotiators and everybody
else on the planet.
Being assertive means asking for what you want and refusing to take no for an
answer. Practice expressing your feelings without anxiety or anger. Let people
know what you want in a non-threatening way. Practice 'I' statements. For
example, instead of saying, "you shouldn't do that," try
substituting, "I don't feel comfortable when you do that." note that
there is a difference between being assertive and being aggressive. You are
assertive when you take care of your own interests while maintaining respect
for the interests of others. When you see to your own interests with a lack of
regard for other people's interests, you are aggressive. Being assertive is
part of negotiation consciousness.
SHARE INFORMATION.
We often approach negotiation being very guarded and wary of
showing our cards. Yet, while we believe this is a smart approach, it has a
negative impact on our outcomes and inhibits trust. Experts in negotiating point
out, people tend to be matchers and follow the norm of reciprocity, responding
in the same way we treat them. If we want to be trusted, we must first offer
it.
Studies have shown that revealing some information, even when it’s
unrelated to the negotiation, increases the outcome. You don’t have to put all
of your cards on the table at the outset. Simply putting something of yourself
out there – your hobbies, personal concerns, or hopes – can set a positive tone
that’s conducive to gaining agreement.
.
DON'T BE IN A HURRY. PAY ATTENTION TO TIMING.
Timing is important in any negotiation. Sure, you must know what
to ask for, but also be sensitive to when you ask for it.
There are times to press ahead, and times to wait. When you are looking your
best is the time to press for what you want. But beware of pushing too hard and
poisoning any long-term relationship.
Being patient is very
difficult in the hurry of sales negotiation; however if you rush, you are more
likely to make mistakes and leave money on the table. Whoever is more flexible
about time has the advantage. Your patience can be devastating to the other
negotiator if they are in a hurry because they start to believe that you are
not under pressure to conclude the deal. So what do they do? They offer
concessions as a means of providing you with an incentive to say yes.
FOCUS ON THE OTHER SIDE'S PRESSURE, NOT YOURS.
We have a tendency to
focus on our own pressure, on the reasons why we need to make a deal.
It's the old story about the grass being greener in the other person's
backyard. If you fall into this trap, you are working against yourself. The
other side will appear more powerful. When you focus on your own limitations,
you miss the big picture. Instead, successful negotiators ask, "what is
the pressure on the other side in this negotiation?" you will feel more
powerful when you recognize the reasons for the other side to give in. Your
negotiation power derives in part from the pressures on the other person. Even
if they appear nonchalant, they inevitably have worries and concerns. It's your
job to be a detective and root these out. If you discover that they are under
pressure, which they surely are, look for ways to exploit that pressure in
order to achieve a better result for yourself.
SHOW THE OTHER PERSON HOW THEIR NEEDS WILL BE MET.
Successful negotiators
always look at the situation from the other side's perspective. Everyone looks
at the world differently, so you are way ahead of the game if you can figure
out their perception of the deal. Instead of trying to win the negotiation,
seek to understand the other negotiator and show them ways to feel satisfied.
A known philosophy of
negotiation includes the firm belief that one hand washes the other. If you
help the other side to feel satisfied, they will be more inclined to help you
satisfy your needs. That does not mean you should give in to all their
positions. Satisfaction means that their basic interests have been fulfilled,
not that their demands have been met. Don't confuse basic interests with
positions/demands: their position/demand is what they say they want; their
basic interest is what they really need to get.
NEGOTIATION IS NOT ABOUT GOODY-GOODY
MORALS
Don’t absorb the
counter parties problems. In most negotiations,
you will hear all of the other side’s problems and reasons they can’t give you
what you want. They want their problems to become yours, but don’t let them.
Instead, deal with each as they come up and try to solve them. If their
“budget” is too low, for example, maybe there are other places that money could
come from.
Don't give anything away
without getting something in return. Unilateral
concessions are self-defeating. Whenever you give something away, get something
in return. Always tie a string: "I’ll do this if you do that."
otherwise you are inviting the other negotiator to ask you for additional
concessions. When you give something away without requiring them to
reciprocate, they will feel entitled to your concession, and won't be satisfied
until you give up even more. But if they have to earn your concession, they
will derive a greater sense of satisfaction than if they got it for nothing.
ANTICIPATE COMPROMISE. BE FLEXIBLE
You should expect to make concessions and plan
what they might be. Of course, the other side is thinking the same, so never
take their first offer. Even if it’s better than you’d hoped for, practice your
best look of disappointment and politely decline. You never know what else you
can get.
You
know your goals and you know where you need to be, so map out multiple ways to
get there. If you are going to maintain control of the negotiation, you must be
flexible. Giving the other side options will allow them to feel as though they
have some control, which will help you reach one of your desired outcomes.
Perhaps you can be flexible on terms, a start date or maybe even price.
Whatever your goals, there is room for flexibility. Review your biases and
adapt as new information enters the conversation to keep from creating a standoff
that could lead to an impass.
ALWAYS BE WILLING TO WALK AWAY.
Never negotiate without
options. If you depend too much on the positive outcome of a negotiation, you
lose your ability to say no. When you say to yourself, "i will walk if i
can't conclude a deal that is satisfactory," the other side can tell that
you mean business. Your resolve will force them to make concessions. Clients
often ask me, "ed, if you could give me one piece of advice about
negotiating, what would it be?" my answer, without hesitation, is:
"always be willing to walk away." please note that i am not advising
you to walk away, but if you don't even consider the option of walking away,
you may be inclined to cave in to the other side's demands simply to make a
deal. If you are not desperate - if you recognize that you have other options -
the other negotiator will sense your inner strength.
Stick to your principles. As
a business negotiator, you likely have a set of guiding principles
and values that you just won’t compromise. If you find negotiations
crossing those boundaries, it might be a deal you can live without. . At
the close of any meeting (even if no final deal is struck) recap the
points covered and any areas of agreement. Make sure everyone confirms.
Follow-up with appropriate letters or emails. Do not leave behind loose ends.
THE WAY AHEAD:
The ability to negotiate successfully in today's
turbulent business climate can make the difference between success and failure.
Negotiation is one of the most valuable life skills you’ll ever develop.
Consider the time you invest in collaborating with new hires, other team
members, clients, vendors, and sales prospects and even family members and
friends. In all of this, I expect you’ll notice that negotiations are an important
part of helping you get the most out of every interaction.
These negotiating
techniques and tricks hold true for your team as well. Your team represents
your business and most likely needs to negotiate to fulfill the requirements of
day to day responsibilities. How many members of your team would say they excel
at, and can’t wait to get involved in their next negotiation? How about you?
Can you say that you excel and enjoy a good negotiation? Move to the next level
Become a sales leader empower your team.
With best wishes
Dr Wilfred Monteiro
