Tue Nov 28 2023
5 min read
9 Tricks To Become A Successful Negotiator
Negotiation is a strategy to settle a matter avoiding disputes and controversies. It is achieved by compromise or agreement. Negotiation is followed in many situations like industrial disputes, legal confrontations, International Affairs, domestic bonds, etc. Negotiation takes place every day. Whether you are managing a team or working in a team, deciding which cricket team will win or who will go to buy the coffees. Negotiation has become a part of our lives. Without it, you can not have reasonable outcomes. Being a better negotiator will help you in the long-term. Even the people you negotiate with will be happy if you do it adequately. The stages of the negotiation process are basically five – Prepare, Information Exchange, Bargain, Conclude and Execute.
How to become a better negotiator?
Here are the tricks to become a better negotiator:
Prepare yourself first
Negotiations can be unpleasant and delightful as well. You never know what would be the outcome. Making yourself ready builds a foundation to initiate and a standard during the whole process. As an example, preparing for an exam beforehand boosts your confidence.
Grade your primacy
Make a list of your priorities – which are important and you want to achieve the same in the negotiation. A better negotiator shares its preferences with the other party so that both of them can understand, compare and reach to an agreement smoothly than bargaining with no particular point.
A handy alternative
Handy alternative means “Plan B”. You don’t want to end up accepting an unworthy offer. Plan B can be used as your best alternative to an intervened agreement. Prepare an alternate to avoid being trapped in an unfit bid.
Keep your first offer on the table
It may seem to be odd putting your offer first but that is the time to be in the spotlight. This will lead everyone else to negotiate your proposal. This creates an ” anchoring effect”. It is also necessary for you to remember the tactic when used by other parties. Do not let their anchoring effect ruin your offer in the negotiation process.
Quid-pro-quo
Some configurations during the negotiation will make the party more satisfied. Even if you are pleased with the first offer, do not agree immediately, put a counter-offer initially. That might otherwise make the party doubtful.
Hold on to your emotions
Emotions can get in the way of negotiating as they discourage you from thinking open-mindedly, and being intelligent. You should have neutrality in your body language as well as ego. This will lead you to a better negotiator with promising conclusions.
Insights of twisted tricks
Some may use the “take it or leave it” scheme to make you feel inferior. To avoid such situations you need to have a basic knowledge of the tones of other parties. These are policies planned to make you think as you have insufficient authority, but a decent negotiation pertains to give and take agreement.
The right time to pause
If you tend to have nervousness, talking unnecessarily could give a wrong direction to negotiate. Learning how to remain silent at the right time could save you from making needless sacrifices. This can happen to anyone from both sides. If the other party starts to offer too much away, staying tight-lipped could be in your favour.
Negotiation does not have a school where you can learn the basics as a subject of interest. Famous negotiators like Nelson Mandela and many others were successful negotiators by doing many bargains. In simple words, from their experiences. They learned to be efficient. Undoubtedly, some have the talent naturally.
- Always learn to get something in return when you give away something in a negotiation. Avoid concessions and aim to find a midpoint between two parties.
- Everything can be turned into a negotiation. It’s not necessarily important to get what you want but everything is indeed negotiable.
- You need to aim at a win-win situation. Making yourself achieve your goals as well as the other party is what a win-win situation aims at. Always have a plan for your aim. Ask the question to yourself – what is your bottom line? Then make the right research. You do not plan a vacation without deciding if it is a road trip or not.
- Never humiliate the other party. You do not want to end up at a battle.
- Always try to think beyond their requests, this will help you know their actual intentions, guiding to a winning negotiation. Never trust the other party. Do not disclose your motives easily. When you are negotiating, better act dumb initially as if you know less.
- Ask questions to build a cloud of trust. It helps to acquire you some time to speculate and compels the other party to explain their statements. Always ask the question -Why? This may reveal the information for your benefit.
One of the most significant things you can do in a negotiation is to drain why the other party craves to make an agreement. You can do this by raising a question and building negotiating foundations. For example, if you are bartering something from an IT sector, try something like “Tell me about your IT services”. Most research conveys that negotiators with a primarily harmonious attitude are more prosperous than harsh bargainers at attaining more original solutions that enhance everyone’s developments. Negotiators who tilt towards partnership also tend to be more joyful with the method and their conclusions.
Compassion and people skills
Negotiating is a social skill. The ability to relate to others is crucial to being a reasonable negotiator. Learning what other people are likely to want and how they would respond to aspects means a better negotiator can effortlessly survive an interaction. No one is born as a negotiator but one can definitely try to be a better negotiator than anybody else. For that, you need a few experiences and certain deals where you would be a winner and sometimes a loser because mistakes make you learn your faults. Never stop, the more you confront, the more you evolve.
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