Negotiating A Win-Win
Would you like to onboard a new client? To reduce your hours? To get a better price on a holiday?
In all these situations, it's useful to have good negotiation skills to get yourself the best outcome, and if relevant, the best price.
We've all heard from business books that negotiation is about creating a win-win situation, where both parties are happy with the deal struck.
In my experience, this is one of those things we 'know' and agree with, but don't practice when we're in a negotiating scenario
The kind of preparation I see my clients doing ahead of a negotiation is:
- working out the return (profit) they want to make or best outcome they're hoping for
- working out their break even/ lowest price they're prepared to go to
- thinking about how best to convince the person they'll be negotiating with
All valid and useful prep, but it misses the 'win-win' point.
To create a win-win situation, you need to spend more time thinking about the OTHER PERSON.
What do you need to know?
- what is the other person trying to achieve?
- assess what you're proposing - what's in it for them? How will you articulate that?
- can you solve a problem you know they have?
- research their character - how do they think, act and behave?
You then need to use this information to do something differently!
If you know the person you're dealing with likes detail - show them all the options you considered and why your recommendation is the best one. If they have a short attention span, and just want all the cards on the table quickly, try direct brevity. Tailor the way you behave in the conversation so that the other party is comfortable talking to you.
If you understand what they want and how your proposal solves a problem, you can show them why it's a win-win.
In the heat of the moment people tend to panic and think back to what they want and their own criteria. They make statements like, 'that's not what works for us' or 'this is our best offer'. This language isn't helpful and I'd argue your client/ other party doesn't really care.
Keep the conversation about them.
If they don't see the value, ask them to talk more about their problem so you can use that perspective to highlight how your solution works.
If they don't like the price, you haven't communicated the value or you've misunderstood their goals - ask them how much value they can create if they're no longer dealing with the problem you're solving. Time and energy to focus on other things is a good one.
By asking them questions and improving your understanding you can reach win-win conclusions. Try not to get wrapped up in your own head.
I hope these tips help you to get mutually beneficial outcomes in your next negotiation - as ever, let me know how you get on.
