What are the best ways to establish trust during a lease negotiation?

Equipping yourself with more information and actively listening to the counterparty can help you identify genuine obstacles. By gaining a deeper understanding of the overall picture, you will be better prepared to collaborate on finding a solution. Importantly, when the other side feels heard and understood, it fosters a more positive negotiation environment, enabling the process to progress smoothly and effectively.

For optimal outcomes honesty is essential as people often feel if one isn't honest, win-win situation is part of the goal as the business otherwise wouldn't make sense, but one must follow through to fully fulfil the expectations.

Establishing trust is very important both sides, because nowadays there are certain landlord who are very demanding at times and tenants who are unreliable. This is very important for a lease agreement. So a complete background knowledge about about the parties are important. Check why the previous tenant vacated and how many years they stayed.

Part of being honest is to do what you said you're going to do. Your actions have to be congruent with your words. Point at that congruency frequently. Remind them the things you said and did. Over time they will label you as someone who will keep his word.

I might add that being respectful is even more important when your counterpart isn't. I find myself in a Good Cop / Bad Cop negotiation in which I was the "suspect". Maintaining the calm and the respect eventually got them to the point they were too tired, and I was saying "It seems that my words are making you upset?". They concede me what I wanted after that.

Being flexible is a double-edged sword. As much as it is a must for every negotiation it might lead you to a place where you find yourself on losing ground. I would ask you to gently lower flexibility from the top of the pyramid just a little and replace it with company interest (success of the project) after that be flexible. Flexibility is essential during negotiations as long as it doesn’t cross the limits. I advise you draw a square where you draft inside all what you feel will be beneficial for the project while placing outside all what will affect it negatively, then spread your flexibility inside the perimeter of the square.

When it comes to contract negotiation good communication is a key. Having the skills to communicate with the second party will be of high importance. While consistency is your go-to route to build trust, you might face some challenges along the way where you gave a word or a promise to the other party only to be surprised later on that you won’t be able to commit with what you promised. Your only way out of this situation is good communication. Don’t back up from discussing your situation with the other party, be honest about the circumstances. Don’t ever turn a blind eye on that as if nothing will happen, you will lose the other party’s trust forever and you will find yourself in a place where there is a no turning point.