7 tips for a good negotiation

7 tips for a good negotiation

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You've probably been part of an individual or group negotiation at some point or you may even have represented the interests of a company with many people dependent on the outcome. Knowing how to negotiate is essential for a company's operations, and this ability in its directors or individuals who head the company will be essential and decisive in its evolution.

Negotiating is an art, and it occurs in all aspects of our daily lives, not just at work. When a child goes on at his parents to buy him the latest toy advertised on TV and the parents finally agree to buy it if he passes all his subjects, this is nothing less than a negotiation.

That's why you must boost your negotiating skills, especially if you have a company or have just create a startup. It won't take you long to discover the importance of being proficient in this field on achieving your goals and managing deals and agreements so that, within your means, it is of greater benefit to you.

Here are some tips to follow to succeed in a negotiation:

Develop your social skills

Being proficient in negotiations comes from the fundamental premise of being a person with communication skills, as negotiation is a specific form of communication. Being sensitive, listening, trying to understand and have empathy are a starting point to be able to conduct a negotiation with minimal warmth. The most active part of you must be the persuasive communication.

Watch the image you project

It's not enough just to be a person with communication skills, empathetic and a good listener; you also have to be seen to have these things. This is the only way that you can convey that image and the positive values ​​that must exist in a negotiation. Trusting you and respecting what you say are essential.

Control every aspect of the negotiation

You should try to pay attention to any situation or detail surrounding the negotiation; being aware of everything is very important and can help you stay ahead of the other party, which can help to anticipate their movements and take advantage of aspects that only you have noticed.

Put forward a more optimistic goal than the one you are looking for, but this must be achievable

It's important that you set higher objectives to meet and establish high expectations on the negotiation, but always from a realistic perspective. Negotiations generally stretch out and you rarely achieve everything you had in mind. Having high expectations will make it easier to reduce them (there will be time to lower them). However, raising the goalposts during the negotiation will be somewhat difficult to accomplish.

Negotiating is a fight, but it should not seem like one

Negotiating is fighting, as both sides want to win or at least not finish losing out, so look for what you are most interested in. This is accepted from the outset, but the confrontation should take place by peaceful means and with minimum level of responsibility, without asking for impossible things that can degenerate into a quarrel.

Try to find out about the person you are going to negotiate with beforehand

If you already know the person that you are going to deal with on the other side, it is important that you study and analyze what the negotiation will be like by considering how the other person is. If you don’t know him/her, you should research his/her track record to have a slightly better idea of what might happen in the negotiation. The other person’s character is important and the emotional side also comes into play. If you know your "rival", you'll have an extra edge.

Most importantly, everyone should come out a winner from the negotiation

This is probably the most important premise by which the two sides should be guided for the negotiation to be fruitful. If a participant is dishonest from the outset and believes that he/she should be the only one to come out winning or considers that making the other side not achieve their goals as being a triumph, it will be very difficult for the negotiation to end on good terms. If a participant is dishonest from the outset and believes that he/she should be the only one to come out winning or considers that making the other side not achieve their goals as being a triumph, it will be very difficult for the negotiation to end on good terms.

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