Negotiation Techniques

NEGOTIATION TECHNIQUES

"What are the six most important principles to attend to while negotiating, and how do you apply them at this moment in your own personal approach?"

Negotiating in business or in our personal life may appear easy, but if certain principles are not known and kept in mind, the whole negotiation may go wrong and the desired results not achieved.

It evolves not one but two or more different sides with different objectives and everyone wants that their own side reaches their goals and gets the best of it. Actually, in a good negotiation it is good when everyone has advantages and is satisfied with the end results, but a lot of compromised must be also done and our own aims are important and our requirements can not be forgotten.

In order to make the whole negotiation activity runs well and achieve a very good result, there are certain principles to follow and keep in mind when a negotiation is about to take place as follow:

1. Being very well prepared and bring all the necessary information to the meeting where negotiation takes place is an essential principle. This means it is important to know beforehand a number of things like: what is the main point of the negotiation and the expectations and terms of both sides; what are the minimum requirements for an agreement to be reached and the limits of compromise; what type of negotiation process and style will be used; what is the other side's character and predict its possible arguments and reactions, and know its goals; how to react and convince properly the others in order to reach a consensus that satisfies both sides; what alternatives are possible in case an agreement becomes not possible at first; what type of relationship is desired to be maintained with the other side Ð'- long term or short term. After this is planned, it is more likely that the negotiation will run smoothly and positively.

2. When the negotiation takes place, it is very important to listen very carefully to what the others say. Paying attention to their words and ideas, letting them expose their side first, gives room and time to understand what they expect, what type of people they are and their character, and also to prepare the right reaction and arguments in order to achieve the goals. Listening and knowing more about the other side avoids making mistakes and makes possible to choose the right method to negotiate and to adapt sensibly to the other person's style without changing our objectives and proposals.

3. Being able to listen also goes together with paying attention to the right time to act, meaning it is crucial to know when to listen but also when to introduce our ideas and when to act in response to what is listened. Being dynamic helps creating a strong side for negotiation, and reacting properly gives more chances to create a good impression and impact in the negotiation. Pushing things too fast or hard can make the other side to be defensive and not reacting or being too passive can make the other side too stiff in their own ideas.

4. It is good in a negotiation to find a good balance between being flexible and at the same time sticking to our principles. While being flexible means it is good to be able to adapt our goals and proposals to the other's needs and own ideas so that both sides can be satisfied, it is also crucial to not be convinced by the problems presented by the other side and the many reasons why something can not be done and instead responding with alternatives to their own problems and good reasons to stick with what we think it's the best. The limits for compromise settled before the negotiation meeting must be followed.

5. Negotiate in a way that makes the other side feel the final agreement and ideas where both or even their own idea and goals. If the other persons feel they reached their aims or had a strong input on the final outcome, it is more likely they will be satisfied, agree more easily with proposals and be happy to make negotiations again in the future.

6. After the meeting is finished, we must never forget to confirm and register all the decisions that took place. Everyone evolved in the negotiation meeting must confirm their opinions and decisions, and it must be registered in writing and signed by everyone. This is very important so that any misunderstandings or latter contradictions can be avoided or proved wrong.

Negotiating properly in my personal life was very important when I used to attend a fashion fair where I had a stall and sold garments to the public, in Indonesia.

I had to buy the merchandise I was going to sell, and this process required that I negotiated with suppliers very often.

When I visited the place where the suppliers where showing their merchandise, I prepared by checking and analyzing all the offers Ð'- checked the type of merchandise offered and the prices they demanded,