How to Improve Your Negotiation Skills

How to Improve Your Negotiation Skills

The most important thing about negotiation is that you should go into with the idea of having a win-win situation, where both the parties are coming out as a winner. Now, the first thing to keep in mind, when you are negotiating, is to have emotional equity with the person you negotiating. This usually happens before the negotiation. Meaning, the more people know you and trust you and like you chances are they would want to give you a better deal before the negotiation. 

So, do the prep work in advance and try to know the person in a better way. The idea is to help them out with something they are working in advance so that you build a rapport with that person and enable better understanding. 

The second important thing is the envisioning, that is to anticipate how the conversation will shape. So, before going, think about all the topics that need to be covered.  This is very important because this will help you build a game plan. You should think about all likely scenarios and your response to such situations. 

The third aspect of good negotiation is listening because when you let the other person talk you understand their need and want in a better way. This helps you in building rapport with the other party because they feel connected as you show openness to listening and understanding. Ultimately, you win the trust and build a strong relationship, the most important ingredient of successful deal-making. 

The fourth aspect involved in improving negotiation skills is to visualize the outcome. So, once you are clear about your want then you can convey it to them and work towards achieving it with more focus. 

One important aspect, highlighted by experts, is the optimum flexibility in your approach. It is good to have an outcome in mind, but you have to show reasonable flexibility in accommodating the view of the other party. This accommodative flexibility shows your willingness to offer the desired benefits to the other party. This feeling of gain works like wonder even if the level of expectation changes during the process of negotiation. You must be ready with “topping” to embellish your offering so that the other party couldn’t say no and accept the deal with a smile. 

The sixth and most important thing is to have faith in your position. You must have an inner belief in yourself. Move with confidence and make sure to convey all your offerings as politely as you could. It is all about highlighting USPs without noise. 

Ultimately negotiation is all about profitability, so you must be ready with your exit-strategy in mind if the deal isn’t going as per your calculation, despite showing reasonable flexibility. Another important aspect, which is normally ignored, is the value system. The rule of the game is simple; don’t go into any deal where you have to compromise with your value system. Deals come and go, so don’t fall into the trap of doing anything breaches your value system.