The ability to negotiate well impacts so many key aspects of our lives, both personally and professionally.  We negotiate everything from our salaries and deals with clients, to buying a car and divvying up household chores.  For some professionals, their job requires them to negotiate non-stop.  While it is such a common part of our lives, many people still approach negotiations being very guarded and wary.  It makes people uncomfortable and it is a skill that they have not practiced enough.  In order to be more successful, it is critical to take the proper steps necessary to become better negotiators.  One way to do that is by putting these timeless tactics into practice during future negotiations.  Here are 3 negotiation tactics that have proven to be effective over the years. Continue reading →

Why is negotiation such an important skill?  Negotiation comes in handy in all areas of life, not just in the workplace. While it might be uncomfortable for some, it is a necessary skill that can be beneficial in a variety of situations.  Therefore, it is important to change the common feeling of angst about negotiation and learn how to negotiate effectively in order to make the most out of any situation.  Here are 4 common experiences where negotiation skills can be very beneficial.

Asking for a Raise

It’s one of the most dreaded tasks for many people, but asking for a raise is a necessary (and common) part of life.  Summoning the courage to ask for more money is not easy, but having good negotiation skills can make it much easier. If you want a raise and you feel like you deserve it, timing and preparation are crucial to making that happen.  A good negotiator would enter this situation with all of the right tools. They would research what others in the field are being paid, present facts only and discuss their contributions, have a clear goal in mind, and understand that other things are negotiable besides money including perks and benefits.  When you possess good negotiation skills you are much more likely to get the raise you deserve.

Closing a Deal

If you are in the business world there will likely come a time when it is up to you to negotiate a deal.  It might be something large like working a big account with a client or it could be as simple as trying to find affordable insurance plans for your employees.  Whatever the situation, negotiation skills are critical in getting what you want.  Someone with seasoned negotiation skills knows how to work the deal so that both parties walk away thinking they are winners.  The ability to negotiate in the workplace can mean the difference between a successful career and one that is stagnant.  The people with good negotiation skills are more likely to advance because they are seen as an asset to the company.

Buying a Home

Like we stated before, negotiation skills come in handy in all areas of life, not just in the workplace.  At some point in their lives, most people will purchase a home and real estate agents are certainly expecting some negotiation.  There are plenty of things to negotiate when buying a home such as price, closing costs, home warranty, or maintenance issues.  Good negotiation skills can be very beneficial in this situation, ensuring that you get exactly what you want in your new home.

Buying a Car

Car dealerships are known for one thing…and that’s haggling.  It is expected that when you walk onto a car lot that you are going to try and negotiate everything from price to trade-in value to extra bells and whistles on the car.  Car salesmen are seasoned professionals at haggling so an inexperienced negotiator will have the disadvantage in this situation.  Good negotiation skills, on the other hand, can serve you well the next time you step on the car lot.

Whether you are working a huge deal with a client, trying to get a pay raise, or desire more responsibility in the workplace, knowing how to negotiate is crucial.  However, learning how to negotiate is not something that comes easily and there is much more to it than you will ever learn in business school.  While they are often despised by many people, the truth is there is a lot you can learn from a car salesman.  Despite the stereotypes that car salesman are dishonest and use tricky tactics to rope people in, the fact is many of them are actually skilled negotiators.  If they didn’t know how to maintain the upper hand, they would simply be out of business.  Becoming familiar with the tactics of car salesmen can help you to become a more successful negotiator in the workplace.  Here are 3 negotiation strategies that you can take away from a car salesman. Continue reading →

If you have ever been involved with sales, then you know that it’s not for the faint of heart.  Whether you are selling a pair of sneakers or pitching to a group of investors, making the sale depends on the appearance, knowledge, and charisma of the salesperson.  Not everyone is born with a natural knack for sales, but there are several qualities that you can learn to possess in order to be more successful.

Initiative

Great salespeople don’t sit around waiting for orders.  They are go-getters and take the initiative to find clients.  They know their livelihood depends on their ability to close deals and they are willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.  They take the time to learn the ins and outs of the product.  They spend time talking with clients in order to build a personal relationship with them.  They know how to emotionally connect with clients in order to meet their needs.  If there is something to be sold, a good salesperson will put in the effort necessary to make it happen.

Personable

A great salesperson isn’t afraid to strike up a conversation with anyone.  They enjoy meeting new people and they take a genuine interest in others.  They understand the power of networking and make it a point to get involved in various charities or organizations.  Most importantly, however, they enjoy talking to people and they know how to build personal relationships with clients that pay dividends over time.  People are much more likely to buy from someone they like, and a good salesperson knows how to get along well with others.  Likability goes a long way in sales, and that’s why people who are personable are successful in this field.

Resilient

You have to learn to be thick-skinned if you are going to make it in sales.  At some point, everyone has to become familiar with the word “no.” Rejection is a very real part of sales and a great salesperson isn’t easily discouraged.  They don’t take it personally when they don’t get the sale.  Rather, they are confident and persistent.  They are not willing to just sit back and take “no” for an answer, but they are quick on their feet and continue working the lead.  Instead of giving up, a great salesperson seeks to understand their client’s problems in order to find a solution that best fits their needs. Their drive and determination makes them successful over time.

It is important for businesses to pay close attention to the recruitment process of salespeople.  These are just a few of the qualities to look for when hiring a salesperson.  The sales team is the heart of any business, so it is important to have the right people who understand how to relate to people and convince customers to buy.

We all have unique qualities and skills that we bring to our professional careers.  For some, these skills make us great negotiators, but for others, these skills might hinder our abilities.  While the ability to negotiate may not come naturally for all of us, the good news is that with proper coaching, training, and experience, we can learn to acquire the skills necessary to become great negotiators.  The following are six skills that can help you to become a better negotiator.

1. Preparation

The best negotiators are those who know things that can go wrong, oftentimes do go wrong.  Negotiation is a process that encompasses several moving parts, all of which can change at any given moment.  Good negotiators expect the unexpected and prepare accordingly.  They prepare for a variety of situations and come prepared to handle each scenario.  This might not always guarantee a successful negotiation, but without good preparation they know they are headed for certain failure.

2. Patience

The advantage always lies with the patient negotiator. Negotiation can be a complex process that takes time and the person who is patient and persistent is more likely to come out ahead.  Impatient negotiators are so desperate to reach a conclusion that they often end up making costly mistakes.  However, good solutions often come to those who wait.

3. Listening

There is no doubt that the best negotiators are the ones who spend less time talking and more time asking questions and listening. Gathering information and thoroughly understanding the needs of their counterpart is the best way to build trust and work towards a winning solution for both parties.

4. Confidence

If you are negotiating with an aggressive party, they will quickly notice your lack of confidence and use it to their advantage.  Great negotiators understand the importance of exuding confidence during a negotiation.  Approaching negotiation with confidence will allow you to take more risks and ultimately end up with more successes.

5. Emotional Control

It can be easy for some people to get really excited when they sense a negotiation is going well because they know they are close to closing a deal.  Likewise, these same people tend to let their emotions get the best of them and lose focus and their temper when things don’t go their way.  Great negotiators know how to control their emotions in order to stay focused and continue pressing forward with the negotiation.

6. Flexibility

Negotiation is a process that can be changing at all times.  The opening offer or the counter offer is never the final solution.  Experienced negotiators understand this and know how to be flexible in order to work the deal.  They are prepared to offer a range of solutions rather than a black or white answer.  They propose solutions that will be beneficial to both parties and are more likely to work toward a win-win negotiation.

While hard work, determination, and a bit of good luck all play a big role in getting ahead in the workplace, the ability to negotiate is another key ingredient that is often overlooked.  When an employee has the ability to recognize and capitalize on opportunities, they are more likely to advance in their career.  Because everything in the workplace is constantly up for negotiation, the advantages of possessing strong negotiation skills will help you get ahead.  In today’s increasingly competitive market, the ability to negotiate effectively is more valuable than ever before.  Let’s take a look at four ways strong negotiation skills can be beneficial for your career.

You Know How to Create a Win-Win Situation

Contrary to what many believe, a successful negotiation does not involve a winner and a loser.  Rather, negotiation has nothing to do with “beating” the other party.  Rather, the best negotiators are the ones who can create a win-win situation in which all parties involved walk out the door thinking the deal was a good one.  This will be beneficial when dealing with customer relationships, negotiating salary increases, dealing with co-workers, and even interviewing for a promotion. There is no question that finding a deal that makes everyone happy is a difficult task, but that is why this type of negotiator is so highly valued.

Good Negotiators are Well-Respected

Respect is an essential part of business.  If you want to get the most out of your employees it is important that they respect you.  The same is true when you are trying to negotiate with vendors, clients, or colleagues.  Someone who is a successful negotiator is likely to leave a lasting impression on those they communicate with, earning their respect.  You will not be looked at as a pushover, but rather someone who knows how to effectively communicate to create a win-win outcome.  This will help you to earn the respect of co-workers, managers, and clients. You are more likely to stand out, increasing your opportunity for advancement in the workplace.

Good Negotiators are Good Communicators

In order to be a successful negotiator, it is imperative that you can communicate effectively with your counterpart.  That involves actively listening to the other party in order to address their needs.  Good negotiators also know how to express themselves in a way that is clear, concise, and convincing.  This type of communication skill will serve you well in terms of career advancement.  Businesses want employees who can communicate well with their team and their clients.  Therefore, the ones who demonstrate the best communication skills are more likely to be considered for advancement and promotions.

You Will Become an Asset to Your Company

The goal of any business is to make a profit and that’s exactly what good negotiators are able to do.  Someone who has vast knowledge and experience with negotiating is far more likely to close more deals and bring in more revenue.  Your ability to negotiate effectively and close deals will make you a huge asset to your company and will ultimately lead to advancement opportunities.

Learning how to be an effective negotiator can be challenging and takes a great deal of practice but in the end it will reap great benefits for your career.  Good negotiators are more valuable to a company, making them much more likely to be considered for salary increases and promotions.

Companies are endlessly searching for ways to optimize growth and increase profits.  They make major investments analyzing customer behavior and enriching customer experience, but many of these strategies are costly and do not necessarily deliver real financial return.  While many companies spend time tracking customer activity, they are missing the most effective way to maximize customer value- connecting with customers on an emotional level.  Let’s examine why an emotional connection is so important in sales.

Activity Does Not Lead to Accomplishments

Oftentimes sales managers try to lead their teams by defining monthly targets.  They feel that the best way to ensure success is to set targets for the number of phone calls, meetings, and proposals for each sales representative.  Team members might consistently hit their numbers but they might still fall short on revenue accomplishments because they are focused on activity rather than customer emotions.

Emotional Connections Build Relationships

You might have a sales representative that makes 100 calls in a week but is less effective than the one who makes only 50.  This is because it is difficult to have time to build an emotional relationship with a client when you are rushing to hit target call numbers.  It is much more valuable to the company to spend more time with each client and make fewer calls.   When you take the time to really talk to your customers, find out what their needs are, and build a rapport with them, they are much more likely to buy from you. This is beneficial for long-term growth because emotional connections build lasting relationships.

People Are Governed By Emotions

People are driven by emotions and tend to make business decisions that are rational but also come from an emotional core.  People are governed by the following six emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise.  It is vital that sales representatives make a conscious effort to uncover the needs of their potential client and tap into those emotions. For example, a real estate agent could try to appeal to an older couple by explaining that it would be difficult and cumbersome to maintain a big house and a smaller house would allow them to travel at a moment’s notice and spend more time enjoying life.  This tactic taps into their fear of not being able to take care of their home while also connecting to the happiness and excitement of being able to travel and live more carefree.

Customers Feel Like You Care

The next time you try to sell something to a potential client, ask yourself “How important is this issue to my client and why?”  Take a step back and find out what it is about your client’s needs that would warrant investment or change.  Are they seeking an urgent solution to a problem or is this something that would make them happier and more efficient?  Once you find out what it is that drives your client, you can tap into their emotions to make the sale.

You are in a board room and there are two groups of people sitting across from each other. Each party is there to discuss an offer that is on the table and to work towards a mutual agreement.  Both parties strive to attain the better end of the bargain, so what separates the pros from the amateurs?  People might think they can conceal their lack of negotiation training and hope that the other party won’t notice, but lack of experience and proper training does not go unnoticed.  Here are 5 red flags that will help you spot an untrained negotiator.

Untrained Negotiators: Don’t Ask the Right Questions

People that lack proper negotiation training don’t realize the critical importance of gathering information about their counterpart.  They are there to speak and not to listen, when in fact listening is the most important aspect to any successful negotiation.  Trained negotiators know what to ask and how to listen.  An untrained negotiator might ask questions that create small talk such or that only pertain to their side of the negotiation, while trained negotiators know how to ask open-ended questions that reveal information about the other party’s goals, preferences, needs, fears, and priorities.

Untrained Negotiators: Think They Must Dominate in Order to Win

Untrained negotiators look at negotiation as a win-lose situation, whereas they feel the need to use bullying tactics to get what they want.  They use power and size to dominate the conversation instead of proper negotiation strategies.  In contrast, a trained negotiator knows that a successful negotiation is one in which everybody wins.

Untrained Negotiators: Don’t Bring Enough to the Table

An untrained negotiator comes to the table with only one goal in mind and only one solution to get there.  Essentially they are saying, “You have to give me exactly what I want if you want to make a deal.”  A trained negotiator understands that the more you bring to the table, the more successful your negotiation will be.  You can negotiate areas of low value to you for points of high value to your counterpart.  This creates trust and confidence that ultimately leads to a successful negotiation.

Untrained Negotiators: Show it Through Their Body Language

Some people think they can conceal their nervousness but their body language says more than they realize.  An untrained negotiator is likely to show signs of nervousness such as swallowing hard, clasping their hands, giving a fake cough, taking a sip of a drink, or scratching their head.  They can also reveal their lack of experience through their speech pattern.  They might be talking very quickly or the tone of their voice gets higher.  All of these signs reveal their lack of training and can allow the other party to take over the negotiation.

Untrained Negotiators: Can Be Bullied

An untrained negotiator is usually so worried about losing the negotiation that they allow the other party to take over.  Rather than showing a willingness to walk away, they succumb to the bullying tactics of their counterpart in order to reach an agreement.  Skilled negotiators on the other hand, have learned effective counters for these bullying tactics and are not swayed so easily.  They remain confident and in charge and do not allow the bully to dominate the negotiation.

The ability to negotiate is one of the most critical elements in having a successful career, and like anything else, your negotiation skills will improve with practice.  However, it can be difficult to get the practice you need before heading into the board room.  That’s why role play is such an effective method for strengthening your negotiation skills.  Working through hypothetical scenarios allows you to identify strengths, build on weaknesses, and try out new techniques in a low-stakes situation.  Role play also provides the opportunity for you to work with a coach who can give you suggestions for how to handle difficult situations or unreasonable demands.  Learn how you can reinforce good negotiation skills through the following exercises.

Overcome Personal Negotiation Weaknesses

We all have a few areas that could use some improvement when it comes to negotiating.  Maybe you get nervous when a client disagrees and you offer premature discounts or maybe you don’t know how to compromise, causing buyers to walk away.  Whatever the issues, identify your weakness and build a role play scenario around that area.  For example, one person will play the salesperson and the other person will play the prospect.  Go through a standard negotiation, placing emphasis and focus on overcoming your specific weakness.   After the negotiation is over, each person has a chance to provide feedback before switching roles and completing the exercise again from a different perspective.

Practice Negotiating an Extreme Situation

When training for a sport, most athletes train in extreme conditions because if they can run 6 miles in frigid weather and rough terrain they can certainly complete a 3 mile race in ideal conditions.  The same principle can be applied to negotiations.  Once you have successfully negotiated an extremely difficult situation, you will be mentally prepared for a more standard and straightforward negotiation.  Practice this exercise by making note of the most extreme situations you can think of such as tight deadlines, massive deal, difficult personality, etc.  Randomly pick one scenario and run through a negotiation.  Once an agreement has been reached, talk about what techniques were successful and which ones weren’t.  Redo the negotiation until you have practiced with all of the scenarios.

Learn How to Reach a Mutual Agreement

Many people think of negotiation as a win-lose agreement, but in fact a successful negotiation is one in which both parties feel like they have come out ahead.  This type of bargaining is known as win-win negotiation.  Come up with a standard negotiation scenario and act it out, making sure to focus on win-win results.  As you are negotiating, pay close attention to the needs of your counterpart, as listening is one of the most important components to this type of bargaining.  Once an agreement has been reached, talk about how it will benefit both parties and discuss other possible solutions that could be even more beneficial.

The more you practice, the better negotiator you are going to be.  Role play will help you to gain confidence, get more comfortable, and try out various techniques before working on a high-stakes negotiation.  Use these exercises to prepare yourself for every possible scenario and how you are going to handle it.

Negotiations are a part of our everyday lives.  You negotiate everything from who is going to take the trash out to how you can compromise with a big client to close a deal.  You negotiate at home, at work, at your child’s school, or on the car lot.  The fact is negotiations simply cannot be avoided; therefore, it is prudent to learn how to negotiate successfully.  However, being a savvy negotiator does not come easily for everyone.  Like anything else, the solution is practice and you need practical exercises that can be done every day to condition yourself to be a better negotiator. These three exercises will help you build the skills to be a powerful negotiator.

Practice Saying “No”

Saying no is much tougher than it sounds.  When your boss asks you to take on a project that is outside of your comfort zone, or your friends ask you to help them move, we usually comply because we are worried about what they will think if we say no.  This even happens in everyday situations like when someone asks to step in front of us in line at the grocery store.  Most people are fearful of how they will be perceived if they give a rejection, but good negotiators understand that the ability to say “no” gives them leverage.  In a professional negotiation, you must be able to reject the offer that is on the table and this can be difficult if you are not used to saying no.  Thus, you need to practice saying “no” in order to get more comfortable with the process.  That doesn’t mean you have to refuse everything, but learning to say “no” when the stakes are low will help you to be more comfortable standing your ground in a high-stakes situation.

Practice Listening to Other People

Listening is the most important part of communication because it allows you to understand what the other person is feeling.  In a negotiation, saying less and listening more puts you in a more powerful position because the other person is giving you more information than you are giving them.  In addition, someone who is slower to speak is perceived as a more respectful communicator.  Active listening enables you discover the needs of the other person so you can better negotiate a win-win outcome.  You can practice this skill by starting with friends and family.  Try listening more intently and speaking less often during your conversations.  In time this will become a natural element in your conversational language and you will be able to integrate it into your negotiations.

Practice Negotiating

As obvious as it sounds, the ticket to being a better negotiator is to negotiate.  The more you do it, the more comfortable you will be which will lead to a better outcome. Start with small low-stakes situations and work your way up to more important ones.  You can negotiate responsibilities at home with family members and then work toward commanding more authority in the workplace.  As you practice negotiating in your daily life, you will improve your communication skills and your confidence.

These exercises, coupled with your own self-commitment, can help you to become a more powerful negotiator.  You will become a better speaker, a better listener, and you will learn how to navigate any negotiation.