Four Skills You Require for Negotiating Success

Everyone negotiates, some more often than others, some are good at it – others are not. Regardless of the amount of negotiation you are doing (or think you are doing!), if you want to improve your negotiation skills then there are a few basic things that you will need to learn.

I’ll be expanding on these skills with some individual blog posts in the future, so be sure to keep coming back here to check them out – better still, use my contact form to let me know that you want to be automatically updated each time I publish a new blog post – that way, you won’t miss out!

Successful negotiators are those that have the skills necessary to make things happen the way they want them to. This should be done with integrity (don’t take advantage of people less skilled than yourself) and by having superior communication skills.

Skill One – Planning

Have a plan in mind before the negotiation starts! As with any type of meeting, it always pays to be well prepared in advance. If you do not have a plan in mind then it is very possible that things will backfire on you, and you won’t get the deal that you had hoped for. Make sure you know what the other party is looking for and what their priorities are.

As a part of your planning process ensure that you know who you will be dealing with. If you are going into a business negotiation research them and find out who they are and what their future plans are. This way you can address any issues that might come up during your negotiation.

Different types of people can be dealt with best by responding in various ways. This could be answering objections and concerns with solid statistical information. Some people are looking for tons of information while others are content with just a basic overview. Yet again others may want to see facts and figures in the form of slides, diagrams and detailed graphics.

When you know who you are dealing with, it will be easier to respond with them to achieve your own desired results.

Skill Two – Listening

Be sure that you know how to listen. Even before you start negotiating, ask questions to try and find out what the other party is hoping to achieve. People love to talk, so give them the opportunity and then pay attention to what they have to say. This is a great way to attain leverage.

Unfortunately, most of us are very poor listeners. We allow ourselves to be distracted whilst people are talking &, as a result, miss most of the message(s) they are sending. If you have ever been introduced to someone & then forgotten their name five minutes later you have just fallen victim to poor listening skills. You heard them tell you their name but, instead of focusing on what they were saying you were thinking about something else, so you “Forget” what they said!

Skill Three – Confidence

Good negotiators are confident people and this applies to both how you conduct your meetings and to your body language. Your thoroughness in planning (Skill One) will provide you with a great platform for building your confidence – even when the stakes are high. Always be mentally prepared for your meeting, if not the other party may pick up on this and try and use it against you.

Skill Four – Sincerity

Negotiating is not “Selling” – you don’t need to be a salesperson. Instead you must acknowledge that all parties in the negotiation need each other to get the deal over the line. Your goal is not to be the dominant party, instead you want to be seen as the person who helps people come to a mutual understanding. Be the person in control!

There are, obviously, many more skills required to be a success at negotiating but if you start with these four & master them, your negotiating results will improve dramatically.

What other skills are required? Well, that’s a topic for another blog post!