Tips for Negotiating | Epson Business Blog GB

Agreeing a deal, whether it?s a sale or purchase, partnership or hire, is relatively easy in principle. We each have something the other wants and there?s a deal to be done.

Negotiating the detail, however, is less simple. Here are some tips that we think can be applied across a huge variety of negotiation scenarios. Some of them may seem obvious, but they can be easily lost in the heat of the moment. Pick out the ones that you may forget, and revisit them in the days before you know a crucial piece of negotiation is looming.

• Get rid of the perception that negotiating is about two Rottweilers locked in a room, with one eventually having to roll over. In Roger Fisher and William Ury?s negotiating text, Getting to Yes, the experts suggest that instead of viewing your counterpart as the adversary, you focus instead on the merits of the case and search for ways to find common ground. ?Attack? the underlying issue, rather than the other negotiator.

• Have a goal in mind at the start of the discussion, for example, a figure you are happy to pay or accept for the provision of your goods or services. You will never finish negotiations for ?the best deal? if you dont know what it is.

• Do your research. Find out as much as you can in advance about the other party and assume they will have done the same. Look on their website, read their LinkedIn profile, speak to contacts in your network who know them and how they operate

• Spend time listening: the other person wants to deal as well and it?s important to understand their position. The 30/70 rule works well. Ask open-ended questions that won?t just get yes/no answers and listen for 70% of the time.
• Don?t use the word ?between?. It often feels reasonable?and therefore like progress?to throw out a range. Saying ?I can do this for between ?10,000 and ?15,000? is tantamount to a concession, and any shrewd negotiator with whom you deal will swiftly hone in on the cheaper price or the later deadline.

• Intimate that there is someone else you must speak to prior to saying yes, perhaps an investor, a partner, or a member of your advisory board. While you will almost certainly be making the decision yourself, you do not want the opposing negotiators to know that you are the final decision maker, just in case you get cornered as the conversation develops. You?ll almost always benefit from an extra 24 hours to consider the offer.

• Once you make an offer, wait for a response before making another offer. By waiting, you avoid the possibility of rejecting your own offer and making further concessions in a revised offer. Remember the 30/70 rule.

Do you have any tips for negotiation that you can share? Let us know below. Alternatively, let us know if there are any big negotiation no nos.

Source: http://epsonbusinessblog.com/blog/2012/03/29/tips-for-negotiating/

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