Negotiating well is essential for many aspects of your business life. You can use the same deal making skills to make a big sale, form a partnership, or keep your costs under control. Recognizing how vital these skills are may cause you a bit of anxiety, but the right preparation allows you to see negotiating as an opportunity instead of a struggle.
Sharpen Your Skills
Nothing really good comes from being rushed, and business deals are no exception. Going into a negotiation unprepared will almost guarantee you’ll have an unsatisfactory outcome. You must be willing to put in the required effort, both for preparation and for the negotiation itself.
Perhaps the most overlooked element of successful preparation is itting that you can’t do it alone. Don’t be afraid to bring a variety of colleagues or advisors into the huddle when getting ready to negotiate. A diversity of perspectives can unearth potential opportunities and pitfalls that you might have overlooked. Asking for outside advice or even negotiation training will pay off when it results in more and better deals.
Know the Other Side
In the lead-up to a negotiation, you must be as well-informed about the person or company on the other side of the negotiating table as you are about your side. The first step is to learn as much as possible about their business model; this will give you an idea of what kind of deal they will be seeking.
Just as important is to compare your company’s structure, goals and circumstances with theirs, looking for things you have in common as well as differences. You can use the commonalities to build rapport, pointing out how your preferred are equally relevant and beneficial to both sides. On the other hand, any differences may alert you to potential obstacles, or even additional opportunities.
Improve Your Attitude
A positive attitude is a creative attitude, and you often need a good dose of creativity to successfully close a deal. Going into a negotiation in a defensive frame of mind is not going to produce a constructive business relationship. In the midst of a high-stakes negotiation, positive thinking can help you stay relaxed and open to diverse solutions.
While a negative mindset can lead to short-term thinking and nitpicking details, thinking expansively helps you bring everyone involved in the negotiation back to the big picture when necessary. On the other hand, positivity isn’t just about naïve optimism. Open-mindedness can also keep you from developing tunnel vision that could lead to overlooking potential pitfalls. When problems do arise, a positive state of mind allows you to see them as puzzles to solve rather than insurmountable obstacles.
Maintain Your Balance
Treating a negotiation as a competition where you have to “beat” the other side will almost certainly establish an adversarial relationship that hinders dealmaking instead of helping it. Don’t be completely self-serving. You should be trying to work out an agreement that benefits both sides. Think of negotiation as an exchange instead of a battle. Be prepared to give in order to get, and always to get something for anything you willingly give up.
Likewise, don’t go overboard in trying to finalize an agreement as fast as possible. Being too pushy risks pushing away a potential deal. Step back when necessary, and give both sides time to think and respond. Be wary of non-stop hard-selling and demands from the other side, as well. People who feel they must “drive a hard bargain” can be hard to deal with in many ways.
As you may have guessed by now, a key tool in your negotiation toolbox is confidence. You don’t have to be born with that confidence; thorough preparation and the right mindset will create it. Then you can approach any negotiation table with the belief that you’re going to strike a great deal.
