Negotiation Tips You Can Actually Use
While reading thru my Pluck RSS feed reader’s pile of info it’s gathered up for me, I came across a post by Lori Richardson on Sales Coach.
The post linked me over to Jeanette Nyden’s PDF, titled Seven Habit’s Of Highly Effective Negotiators.
I’m involved in negotiations of one type or another every week, sometimes every day.
I learned or relearned a couple of things here that can help you and I become better negotiators.
1) Prepare ahead of time. This may seem a little basic, but you would not believe the number of times a vendor will come to a meeting they asked for and not have the slightest idea about what my company is trying to accomplish.
2) Do not let your ego get the best of you. This would be one of my weaker areas and I’m constantly trying to be more humble and less opinionated. It’s hard to humble when you’re as good as I am. Ooops !
3) Be willing to make the first offer. I don’t mind being the first to speak. I always set the tone when I do and put the other guys on the defensive. I know what I will and won’t agree to and will not deviate from those parameters, so what difference does it make if I go first or last.
For more, click over to Jeanette’s PDF and visit her site to get even more info on being more effective in your negotiations.
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Good ideas, all. #3 is interesting; there’s so much said in negotiation about timing. I recently was involved in a business deal where one vendor was just OBSESSED about where he stood in the batting order of people I was talking to. Of course, the more he wanted to know, the less I wanted to tell him.
The other guy just played his own game and didn’t show much curiosity about the other guy, and, coincidentally, got the job…
Hey Gary,
I’ve always felt like if I had the courage to say “no” and the good sense to not agree to anything outside of my ” Parameters Of Profit “, then it doesn’t matter to me whether I go first or second.
Most people think that if I ask for 25 and they were willing to go to 30, then they were losers or were taken advantage of.
I feel that if I can take 25 and profit from it, then I’m a winner.
If I go in thinking I’ll accept anything over 20 and they give me 25, even if they would have gone to 30, how the heck can I call that a bad deal ?
Never be afraid to say no. This won’t be the last deal that ever comes your way. And if it is, it won’t matter ’cause you can’t live forever off one deal anyway.