28 Effective Tips to Improve your Negotiating Skills

Negotiation occurs in almost all areas of life and it is a process of resolving (or trying to resolve) a conflict of interest or situations between two parties (or more).

Acchieving better results in negotiation is necessary to follow certain guidelines that will help you be prepared. This is not about just reading information on the topic but to have a more strategic view: Understand both positions, yours and theirs, and also the rules and conditions governing the negotiation.

This time I'm going to give you a series of tips to help you have a better chance of obtaining better results:

Before negotiation:

Preparation:

We must define what we want to achieve and how we will achieve it by setting clear goals. In addition, we must identify our strengths to support on them and identify our weaknesses to know how to overcome them.

Gathering the necessary information:

Before you meet with your customers, competitors or potential business partners make sure you know as much as possible about them.

• Gather the greatest amount of information is critical to know what motivates the other party. Do a little research/homework in which you define what are their strengths and what are their weaknesses.
• Answer questions such as: Who is he/she?, what kind of negotiator is?, what tactics could he/she use?, what are his/her interests? etc.
• Search for information on suppliers or customers in order to use it at the right time.
• Culture strongly influences interests of each person so taking it into account is really important (also consider age, position, experience, education, religion or other factors).
• Having an interesting topic of conversation helps relieve stress.

Do not give room for improvisation:

• Prepare the negotiation in a detailed way to not lead to failure.
• Remember to have clear objectives and be prepared for any eventuality.
• Have on hand all the facts and figures that can help you.
• Know your products, your company and the market.

Set your strategies:

• Make a list of possible offers that he/she might give you and generate a response for each one.
• Create an overall strategy and establish tactics to lead you to achieve your goals.
• Have a clear plan of what you will do and how you will do it.
• Prepare an exhibition that considers the benefits and consequences of each interested party to the agreement. It gives you a clear picture so you can determine how, when and where to make a concession.

Know your options (and the other party's):

• Consider it before negotiation and constantly evaluate it.

Considering this (during negotiation):

Negotiate with superiority:

• Demonstrate power during the negotiation but always with respect.
• Avoid ambiguities and show security.
• Leave aside the nervousness and also concern yourself with your outfit, gestures and attitudes when talking.
• Identify the tactics used by the other party.
• Use time as a weapon for each negotiation.

Have a good sense of humor and do not miss the mood:

• Emotions can play against you in many ways and negotiation is often very stressful for both parties. Having a good sense of humor can help a lot.
• Avoid having a defensive attitude that makes you react in the worst way possible and always remember that the best negotiators know how to stay calm and manage impulses.
• Never lose patience and try not to get angry.
• Do whatever it takes to keep the head and perspective: Breathe deeply, do a relaxing activity, sleep well, etc.
• Do not be swayed by sentimentality or cheap arguments.
• Exclude sarcasm, irony and humor at the expense of the other.

Do not disrespect:

• An unfriendly attitude that leads to disrespect won't allow you to complete the process in a good way.
• Express yourself with education.
• Respect doesn't mean you should give in to any counter proposal. On the contrary, it will increase the confidence between both parties.
• Treat the other party with care and do not use irritating comments.
• Remember defensiveness may play against you.
• Do not get mad. If this happens take a moment to regain peace.

Be observant:

Pay attention to body language and how the other one talks.

Use time to your advantage:

• Remember that time is your friend so do not rush.
• Manage the conversation on your favor by focusing on where you want it to be directed. The other party's shortage of time will lead him/her to give in at any time.
• If the other person you're negotiating pressures you to sign can be a bad sign.
• Both parties must commit to spend time together to get a good deal.
• Before talking by phone, email, video-conference or face-to-face at least give yourself time to think.
• You may need to consult someone to help you make a decision.

All problems are not resolved at one time (It is very overwhelming and exhausting.):

• The more points the negotiation has the more time will require to evaluate them and also it will take more interviews.
• Recommendation: Start with some points you consider easy to accept and can be addressed quickly and without having to negotiate much. After building a good relationship you can start to talk about other important but difficult issues.

Listen first:

Demonstrate the other party that you listen and understand him/her. This helps to improve the relationship so the other party can tell you everything you need to know and how to be able to identify his/her interests.

Sit on the same side:

• See together the shared problem/situation, then both of you can work together and solve it.
• Consider partner to the other and treat him/her as such.
• If possible try to make a brainstorming to create a long list of possible ideas that meet the interests of both.

Identify the intangible values ??of the other:

Sometimes a person has hidden interests which are not obvious or observable at first sight. It could be that this person doesn't recognize it or simply don′t want you to know. Identify it.

Be curious:

• Go to negotiation with curious attitude.
• The very strong assumptions can lead to serious errors. It is impossible not to go with preconceptions but stay open to change it and take care to check that your assumptions are not wrong.

Start with high bids:

It is estimated that within a negotiation best results are obtained when the bids start at highest levels (if you are a seller) or lowest (if you are a buyer) because the expectations of the other party are reduced while negotiation occurs.
Obviously you must be coherent with the initial offer because you don′t want your potential customer runs away.

Guiding Negotiation:

• Every time we make a proposition it must be one step ahead of the common objectives.
• Try the other party understands your position in a straightforward manner so he/she wouldn't have to guess anything and avoid problems in the future.

Feel comfortable in silence:

It happens that during silence negotiators feel uncomfortable so they start to throw arguments or inappropriate comments that might jeopardize the deal. Avoid this.

Be careful with the process of ideas:

Do not pressure to the other party and grant appropriate time to generate understanding of what you propose him/her.

Do not show what your priorities are:

By demonstrating your priorities the counterparty can dose granting concessions regarding what you are looking for.

During Negotiation:

Questions:

• Ask questions to identify key points with which you can make a better offer.
• Ask to the other party what he/she gets by achieving his/her goal and evaluate if his/her goal is compatible with yours.

Repeat to clarify:

Ask open questions to find out what the other party wants then identify it and do a summary. After, ask if he/she agrees with your perception.

Deliver solid arguments:

Do not focus on using a lot of arguments. Apply only those which are truly reliable. Submiting many arguments can be synonyms of inconsistency.

Goals in common:

Find a common goal to achieve so that each of the parties agree. Once accepted plausible seek to achieve this goal in a cooperative framework.

Conclusions shall be the last:

• Any negotiation has an order. First the proposal must be exposed, after explain the reasons and finally come to conclusions.
• In negotiations if the parties do not agree they tend to express disagreement, then the reasons and after the arguments of each side.
• If you let the conclusion to the end you involve the other party in the analysis of the reasons and this shows an image of reflection that contributes to the exchange and persuasion.

After Negotiation:

Check your negotiations:

• Keep tracking of every deal you have closed and done up.
• Keep your word and stick to the terms of each negotiation.
• Maintain communication with the other party.

Reevaluation:

Re-evaluate what you did in detail and identify your strengths and maintain them. Also, your weaknesses so you can overcome them.

Do this even if negotiation fails or ends favorably. We can always improve and the point is to be getting better trader.

If negotiations fail without reaching an agreement.

Again: Re-evaluate what you did wrong and reconsider the offers. If a new deal or something extra that can offer the client can retake the conversation with a call or email of apology (Then I will talk about this in another article) in which you tell the customer you want to retake negotiations and you set new acceptable conditions that can attract him back.