The Art Of Negotiation For Freelancers

Welcome to a daunting topic for every freelancer,?negotiation.?It’s the one skill that underpins all decisions within your business. You’ll more than likely resonate with questions like:

How I can charge more for my services?

How I can get high-paying clients?

How to communicate our values to the clients?

How to negotiate with clients?

We’re going to tackle these, one by one by learning the art of negotiation, so let’s start with?‘what is negotiation?’

What is negotiation, and why is it important?

Negotiation is a process through which people settle their differences and try and come to a mutual decision that reduces conflict between both parties. During a negotiation, it is common to see both parties trying to extract the maximum amount of value from the deal, but the key is to reach a win-win solution that benefits everyone involved.

Many people believe that negotiations are "all or nothing,"?and that there has to be one winner and one loser. Nothing could be further from the truth. While the goal of?negotiation?is most certainly getting what you want, the fact is that the best deals (the ones that stick) incorporate terms and ideas from both parties. Before entering any formal negotiation, it is important for an individual to think about what they want to achieve from the process. It makes sense to put on paper specific goals or desirable outcomes. In most cases for freelancers, we negotiate for prices, deliverables or time. In this article, we'll provide some tactics and tips that good negotiators use to get what they want. These suggestions may be used in virtually any negotiation process.

Let’s understand negotiation by real-life example:

Just imagine, you got a client call & the client’s budget is ￡800.

(Always remember you’re going to be thrown the lowest possible number which isn’t always their actual budget, they are just checking if it’s possible to do it for ￡800.)

You counter-offer your rate at ￡2,000.

(You actually could seal the deal for ￡1,300 but still, you are asking for more, this technique is called?price anchoring).

Price anchoring is?the practice of establishing a price point that customers can refer to when making decisions.?A common saying in the world of pricing goes like this “how do you sell a ￡2,000 watch? Put it next to a ￡10,000 watch. In practice, you say the big number first in this example that’s ￡2,000”

They will negotiate now from the bottom to the up ( ￡800+ ), you will negotiate from top to bottom ( ￡2,000-).

The client wanted to work with you so they will say their best-negotiated price (￡1,400).

You win the deal, you wanted to close the project for ￡1,200 but you negotiated and got ￡1,400.

That’s negotiation in practice.

Here are some important tips

1. Start with the high number and use the technique of price anchoring.
2. If they ask for your budget always say your budget in price bracketing format means I charge in a range of ￡8,000 to ￡1,000. (click here to learn more about price bracketing)
3. Remember they always start from a small price.
4. Know your numbers before going into the negotiation with the client.
5. Practice saying the bigger number first.
6. If you are negotiating via email - If the client uses words or phrases that are ambiguous, this may signal that a client is open to a given proposal. Look specifically for words such as "can,"?"possibly,"?"perhaps,"?"maybe," or "acceptable."?Also, if the client uses a phrase such as "anxiously awaiting your reply" or "looking forward to it," this may be a signal that the party is enthusiastic and/or optimistic that an agreement may soon be reached.

The key to a successful negotiation is to reach a win-win solution for both parties. But what’s that quintessential art of negotiation? Let’s explore! Being flexible and calm certainly helps while negotiating, yet when we dive deep, these guiding principles can help all our negotiations, take a look and implement them.

Be Authentic:

Strive to be genuine during negotiations. People always have a knack for differentiating our true nature from a facade. Avoid being fake at all costs. Being manipulative, deceptive, and secretive will damage your reputation in the long run. Equally, if the client is being unethical, or disrespectful, you can sense it. Cultivating authenticity never fails.

Be Kind:

Think through the negotiation as the client would. Understand their concerns. You will ruin every negotiation if you just care about yourself. Focus on the long term, comprehend the bigger picture, and walk towards a win-win situation. Being a team player would assist you more than being a pain to the other stakeholder. Negotiations are always about reaching creative consensus, rather than encouraging limited thinking.

Build Rapport

The thought of closing a new deal can be daunting, especially if you do not know much about your counterpart. However, this is a good opportunity to establish a friendly but professional rapport with them so that they perceive you as more of a collaborator, than a competition.

Build Relationships:

Fruitful negotiations are created through patience and admiration for long-term relationships. Although emotions need to be kept in check, judiciously use them to understand the other person. Continue to be transparent, sincere, and honest. Your integrity and discipline would eventually yield into a constructive negotiation. Remember that if you respect the client more so as a human then it would translate into trust. Consequently, mutual trust would drive viable negotiations.

Active Listening

A negotiation is ideally a discussion in which everyone gets a chance to put forth their viewpoint. It is important to be a good listener and give others a chance to voice their opinions, no matter how trivial they may sound. It is not only respectful but can also provide you with valuable information that might come in useful later.

Cultivate Respect:

Practice the idea of respecting the client in every negotiation. Do not push deals, and propositions beyond a point. Listen more, talk less. Keep in mind that silence will give you more time to contemplate, and understand. It would also show that you truly respect the concerns of the client. Always let the negotiation work out its natural flow and never rush it for your vested interests. if you want to learn about client communication -?click here to learn more about client communication.

Innovating

To find the ideal solution, you not only need to be innovative and think out of the box. This is also where foresight and problem-solving skills come in handy. Think of solutions other than monetary and short-term benefits and capitalise on closing in on a more permanent and transformational solution.

Ultimately, negotiation is a skill that you will master by actually talking with a client and applying these tips and tricks in real life. By following these negotiation tips, you would gradually master the art. Never forget that negotiation starts and ends with relationships. Cultivate authenticity, maturity and respect for everyone who is involved in the process. Rest assured, with time, you would not only attract more opportunities but also emerge as a brilliant negotiator in your personal and business life.

Hope this helps. ??

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