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One of the most vital skills in life generally is negotiation.
Negotiation occurs when two or more people communicate with the
intention of reaching a mutually beneficial understanding on a given
matter. To an entrepreneur, negotiation skills are a must as you
interact with suppliers, customers, investors, employees, bankers and
any other stakeholders, whether internal or external, to your
enterprise.
First and foremost, you can only be a winning negotiator when you are prepared. You need to consider in advance issues such as the key things you are negotiating for, your negotiation objectives, assumptions in your negotiation, some information about the negotiating party, their attributes including strengths and weaknesses, and what is important to them. Good preparation greatly improves your chances of winning a negotiation.
It is also strongly advisable to work for a win-win situation while negotiating a deal. When you only focus your negotiation on what adds value to you or your enterprise, without considering the other party, hence making them feel cheated, most likely you will not win the negotiation. When you manifest fairness, considering the situations of both parties, you are likely to win a negotiation. Put yourself in the other party's shoes. As an entrepreneur you clearly understand that business thrives on win-win scenarios. Lack of win-win negotiation scenarios create complications at a later stage.
Lay emphasis on areas of agreement early and defer discussing areas of fundamental disagreements for a later time. Psychologically there comes a sense of progress and fulfilment when you agree on several things, and this also tends to compel both parties to proceed and finalise the few other areas of disagreement. Use some wisdom to difuse stalemates when they occur. In this way, you can keep the negotiation going on for a while.
Have at your disposal several alternatives that you can wisely put forward, one at a time, to ensure you do not leave the negotiating table without a win. For example, when negotiating a price you can have volume options, delivery alternatives, after-sales services etc that can be tied to the pricing and that makes the other party see more value added. Alternatives provide room for comparison and enables winning strategies in negotiation.
Winning a negotiation, whether business or not, also requires good timing and patience. Urgency sometimes is intepreted as desperation and you need to exercise wisdom if you must win a negotiation. Many times also when you are in a hurry you tend to be compromised and this may make it difficult to achieve your negotiation objectives, hence a no-win situation.
When negotiating with people from different cultural backgrounds you have to consider applicable cultural norms. While in some cultures you can negotiate over long hours, even over lunch, in others this is not appropriate. While in some cultures starting a negotiation with substantial overstatements, hence leaving a large room for negotiation, is considered normal, in other cultures it is seen as an attempt to cheat. Since your objective is to win you must be careful about this aspect.
Additionally you should be clear about what you are negotiating for since this increases your chances of winning. While considering this ensure that you leave room for future negotiations. You may need to consider both the short-term and long-term effect of your agreements, for you to a win-win situation. Sometimes what you consider as a losing situation in the short run may turn out to a winning situation in the long run.
Communicate well while negotiating. Understand and make the best use of body language. Negotiate with the right people. Use the right approaches for the right situations. Understand that many possibilities exist in your negotiation. Being an entrepreneur you need to be smart and know how to get the things you need through the art of negotiation. You can indeed negotiate your way into success if you learn and deploy the right skills and approaches. Be a winning negotiator.
Till then,
Clayton Mwaka
NB. Do you desire to learn more about entrepreneurship skills and related valuable pieces of advice? If so, check out Clayton's book at http://www.amazon.com/author/claytonmwaka
First and foremost, you can only be a winning negotiator when you are prepared. You need to consider in advance issues such as the key things you are negotiating for, your negotiation objectives, assumptions in your negotiation, some information about the negotiating party, their attributes including strengths and weaknesses, and what is important to them. Good preparation greatly improves your chances of winning a negotiation.
It is also strongly advisable to work for a win-win situation while negotiating a deal. When you only focus your negotiation on what adds value to you or your enterprise, without considering the other party, hence making them feel cheated, most likely you will not win the negotiation. When you manifest fairness, considering the situations of both parties, you are likely to win a negotiation. Put yourself in the other party's shoes. As an entrepreneur you clearly understand that business thrives on win-win scenarios. Lack of win-win negotiation scenarios create complications at a later stage.
Lay emphasis on areas of agreement early and defer discussing areas of fundamental disagreements for a later time. Psychologically there comes a sense of progress and fulfilment when you agree on several things, and this also tends to compel both parties to proceed and finalise the few other areas of disagreement. Use some wisdom to difuse stalemates when they occur. In this way, you can keep the negotiation going on for a while.
Have at your disposal several alternatives that you can wisely put forward, one at a time, to ensure you do not leave the negotiating table without a win. For example, when negotiating a price you can have volume options, delivery alternatives, after-sales services etc that can be tied to the pricing and that makes the other party see more value added. Alternatives provide room for comparison and enables winning strategies in negotiation.
Winning a negotiation, whether business or not, also requires good timing and patience. Urgency sometimes is intepreted as desperation and you need to exercise wisdom if you must win a negotiation. Many times also when you are in a hurry you tend to be compromised and this may make it difficult to achieve your negotiation objectives, hence a no-win situation.
When negotiating with people from different cultural backgrounds you have to consider applicable cultural norms. While in some cultures you can negotiate over long hours, even over lunch, in others this is not appropriate. While in some cultures starting a negotiation with substantial overstatements, hence leaving a large room for negotiation, is considered normal, in other cultures it is seen as an attempt to cheat. Since your objective is to win you must be careful about this aspect.
Additionally you should be clear about what you are negotiating for since this increases your chances of winning. While considering this ensure that you leave room for future negotiations. You may need to consider both the short-term and long-term effect of your agreements, for you to a win-win situation. Sometimes what you consider as a losing situation in the short run may turn out to a winning situation in the long run.
Communicate well while negotiating. Understand and make the best use of body language. Negotiate with the right people. Use the right approaches for the right situations. Understand that many possibilities exist in your negotiation. Being an entrepreneur you need to be smart and know how to get the things you need through the art of negotiation. You can indeed negotiate your way into success if you learn and deploy the right skills and approaches. Be a winning negotiator.
Till then,
Clayton Mwaka
NB. Do you desire to learn more about entrepreneurship skills and related valuable pieces of advice? If so, check out Clayton's book at http://www.amazon.com/author/claytonmwaka
Clayton Mwaka is an entrepreneur, author and business trainer and
consultant. His interests cover aspects of entrepreneurship and
personal development. You can read his blogs at http://thewiseentrepreneur.hosting.co.ug.
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