Most people suck at negotiations.
And there’s a high chance you’re most people.
This means you can either:
•Accept that people will take you for a ride (because all of life is basically negotiation)
OR
•Do something about it.
By the way, I learnt this the hard way.
I joined a startup selling MedTech solutions to Defence forces in 2018.
A very hard sales cycle in a very complex Industry. I went in a meek, untested boy and came out a battle hardened negotiator.
Here are my hard-earned negotiation tactics:
1. Understand yourself first
What’s your baseline as a negotiator? Do you usually get what you want? Do you end up capitulating?
Do you like negotiations or dread them?
Write down the things you think you’re good, and bad at.
Once you figure out your strengths and weaknesses, you can start to plan ahead.
2. Sit on the same side of the table.
Negotiating doesn’t have to be a contentious affair. If you approach it like a normal conversation, you take away the pressure that comes with it.
Rather than sitting on opposite sides of the table- you’re on the same side.
3. Look for a win-win.
Life isn’t a zero sum game. Your goal as a negotiator is to find a way to get what you want without leaving the other person feeling shortchanged.
You have to think from both sides, and then find the solution that works for both of you.
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4. Negotiating is a process of discovery
Find out their wants, fears and bottom line when it comes to your deal. You already know yours. Once you have the information, it becomes so easy to decide the way forward.
This process of discovery is the most important thing that people don’t spend time on.
In fact- in sales, there is a complete process of ‘discovery’ that they teach sales-people in expensive trainings. The crux of it is simply- how well do you understand the buyer?
Replace buyer with the person you’re talking to- and practise this. You’ll end up developing one of the rarest sales skills.
5. Never give a number.
Say you’re in a pricing negotiation with a client. You should never give a number early on. It’s much better to first understand how they estimate the value of your product and then start the negotiation from there.
If you don’t know what the baseline is, you might end up way outside the zone in which the other party might give the offer.
If you don’t have that info, much better to prise that out and start from there.
6. Give a number (a very specific one)
Whether it’s your product’s pricing, salary expectations or anything else- if you have to come up with a number come up with a specific number.
13478.9 is much better than 14000.
Why?
Because for some reason, people tend to trust odd numbers.
But even more importantly- there should be a logic behind the number.
Which gets us to the next point:
7. Build a logic.
To get what you want, you need to build a logic. A logic that the other person cannot refute.
This is your prep. You think of what you want to say, what they are likely to say in response and basically- simulate the conversation in advance.
Pick out the flaws in your logic, refine them and prepare well.
If you follow pt no 4 well (discovery), you’ll be able to do this extremely well.
8. Know when to walk away
Know your bottom line, beyond which you will not negotiate.
If you find the other person going into that zone, walk away!
The only thing worse than losing the customer, is winning them and then having to bend over backwards to please them- things you wouldn’t do for majority of clients.
This translates into relationships too- how many people do you know who are stuck in toxic relationships just because they don’t know how to set boundaries?
This is hard for a lot of people, so tell yourself this at the outset and clearly define the criteria that would make the deal unworkable for you.
Anyway- that’s it. Fin.
Those are all the things I had to share about sales, negotiations and life.
Let me know if you liked this!
PS: Please tweet at me if you liked this edition: @shubhankarchau7