Negotiation Skills, Part 2 of 2

Negotiation, Part Two

In my previous article, I covered a few of the most basic keys to any successful negotiation. I’ll continue that theme in today’s article, examining several other negotiation strategies which will help you to ensure that all of your negotiations are successful and satisfactory.

In many ways, negotiation is just like other skill-based activity: you need to practice if you want to improve. And it’s much easier to practice than you may think. You see, negotiations and the opportunities for negotiations arise all the time, but we usually let them pass without notice. But every time you are considering making a purchase, even if it’s from a major retailer, then that is a chance to negotiate. Of course, many major retailers will not be inclined to haggle over relatively minor purchases. But smaller retailers, or more major purchases, do allow for some degree of negotiation.

Additionally, within your workplace and personal life, moments of negotiation arise all the time: favors are asked, assignments doled out, and so on. By viewing these instances as the negotiations they actually are, and then experimenting with various strategies, you’ll greatly improve your negotiation abilities.

As for the actual negotiation itself, one of the keys for success is creativity and innovation. All too often, individuals become too narrow-minded in their thinking, viewing the negotiation as nothing more than a back-and-forth over price. If you approach the negotiation with an open mind and actively search for creative solutions, you will oftentimes experience greater success. Not only will you discover preferable outcomes, but you will also impress the other party, and instilling a sense of admiration in your opponent is always beneficial.

Another useful skill when it comes to negotiating is understanding and utilizing body language. The first half, understanding body language, is fairly self-explanatory. Oftentimes, we inadvertently reveal information about ourselves and our emotions through our facial expressions, physical gestures, and posture. If you are able to interpret the meaning of these examples of body language, then you will have greater knowledge of your opponent: how comfortable he is, how serious or desperate he is, and so on. Maybe you’ll notice that his body language indicates that he is not actually as opposed to paying a premium price as he says; maybe you’ll realize that he’s on the verge of quitting the negotiation and you need to relent some. As I said in my previous article, knowledge of the other party is crucial for a successful negotiation, and interpreting body language is one great way to attain that information.

But as I stated, you can also utilize body language to your benefit by sending intentional signals to the other party. One of the best, most useful examples of this practice is flinching. It is fairly simplistic, but surprisingly effective. Essentially, when your opponent makes an offer, you react by demonstrating, visibly, that you are shocked by how unacceptable the offer is, making it clear that you were expecting a much better proposal. If it’s a monetary figure, you can repeat the number aloud with your eyes opening wide. By using your body language (and actual language) to demonstrate how disappointed you are in the offer, your opponent will quite possibly feel a sense of embarrassment and guilt, and respond with a better proposal. Although, if you are not able to make your reaction seem natural, then you must exercise caution, as a poorly executed flinch can have the opposite, negative effect.

The final piece of negotiation advice I’ll cover in this article is the importance of confirmation and ratification. At the end of your negotiation, you must confirm the conditions of your agreement and ratify them in some binding way. This is common sense, yet it is often ignored by inexperienced negotiators. Sometimes, the two parties have slightly different understandings of the arrangement they’ve reached. As you can imagine, this will inevitably lead to significant conflicts later on. To avoid this, always make a point of clearly enumerating all of the aspects of the deal you’ve struck and ensure both parties are completely in agreement.

And then there’s ratification. Ideally, we would all like to trust each other completely to keep our word. Sadly, this is not a realistic policy, as certain unscrupulous individuals or organizations will back out of an agreement if they later regret its terms. For that reason, you must always ratify your agreement at the end of a negotiation. Most commonly, this ratification takes the form of a contract, laying out the terms and signed by both parties. By creating such a document (preferably with the assistance of an attorney), you can rest assured that your opponent will not be able to ignore or violate any of the terms of your agreement at a later date.