The ability to negotiate is one of the most critical elements in having a successful career, and like anything else, your negotiation skills will improve with practice.  However, it can be difficult to get the practice you need before heading into the board room.  That’s why role play is such an effective method for strengthening your negotiation skills.  Working through hypothetical scenarios allows you to identify strengths, build on weaknesses, and try out new techniques in a low-stakes situation.  Role play also provides the opportunity for you to work with a coach who can give you suggestions for how to handle difficult situations or unreasonable demands.  Learn how you can reinforce good negotiation skills through the following exercises.

Overcome Personal Negotiation Weaknesses

We all have a few areas that could use some improvement when it comes to negotiating.  Maybe you get nervous when a client disagrees and you offer premature discounts or maybe you don’t know how to compromise, causing buyers to walk away.  Whatever the issues, identify your weakness and build a role play scenario around that area.  For example, one person will play the salesperson and the other person will play the prospect.  Go through a standard negotiation, placing emphasis and focus on overcoming your specific weakness.   After the negotiation is over, each person has a chance to provide feedback before switching roles and completing the exercise again from a different perspective.

Practice Negotiating an Extreme Situation

When training for a sport, most athletes train in extreme conditions because if they can run 6 miles in frigid weather and rough terrain they can certainly complete a 3 mile race in ideal conditions.  The same principle can be applied to negotiations.  Once you have successfully negotiated an extremely difficult situation, you will be mentally prepared for a more standard and straightforward negotiation.  Practice this exercise by making note of the most extreme situations you can think of such as tight deadlines, massive deal, difficult personality, etc.  Randomly pick one scenario and run through a negotiation.  Once an agreement has been reached, talk about what techniques were successful and which ones weren’t.  Redo the negotiation until you have practiced with all of the scenarios.

Learn How to Reach a Mutual Agreement

Many people think of negotiation as a win-lose agreement, but in fact a successful negotiation is one in which both parties feel like they have come out ahead.  This type of bargaining is known as win-win negotiation.  Come up with a standard negotiation scenario and act it out, making sure to focus on win-win results.  As you are negotiating, pay close attention to the needs of your counterpart, as listening is one of the most important components to this type of bargaining.  Once an agreement has been reached, talk about how it will benefit both parties and discuss other possible solutions that could be even more beneficial.

The more you practice, the better negotiator you are going to be.  Role play will help you to gain confidence, get more comfortable, and try out various techniques before working on a high-stakes negotiation.  Use these exercises to prepare yourself for every possible scenario and how you are going to handle it.

Negotiations are a part of our everyday lives.  You negotiate everything from who is going to take the trash out to how you can compromise with a big client to close a deal.  You negotiate at home, at work, at your child’s school, or on the car lot.  The fact is negotiations simply cannot be avoided; therefore, it is prudent to learn how to negotiate successfully.  However, being a savvy negotiator does not come easily for everyone.  Like anything else, the solution is practice and you need practical exercises that can be done every day to condition yourself to be a better negotiator. These three exercises will help you build the skills to be a powerful negotiator.

Practice Saying “No”

Saying no is much tougher than it sounds.  When your boss asks you to take on a project that is outside of your comfort zone, or your friends ask you to help them move, we usually comply because we are worried about what they will think if we say no.  This even happens in everyday situations like when someone asks to step in front of us in line at the grocery store.  Most people are fearful of how they will be perceived if they give a rejection, but good negotiators understand that the ability to say “no” gives them leverage.  In a professional negotiation, you must be able to reject the offer that is on the table and this can be difficult if you are not used to saying no.  Thus, you need to practice saying “no” in order to get more comfortable with the process.  That doesn’t mean you have to refuse everything, but learning to say “no” when the stakes are low will help you to be more comfortable standing your ground in a high-stakes situation.

Practice Listening to Other People

Listening is the most important part of communication because it allows you to understand what the other person is feeling.  In a negotiation, saying less and listening more puts you in a more powerful position because the other person is giving you more information than you are giving them.  In addition, someone who is slower to speak is perceived as a more respectful communicator.  Active listening enables you discover the needs of the other person so you can better negotiate a win-win outcome.  You can practice this skill by starting with friends and family.  Try listening more intently and speaking less often during your conversations.  In time this will become a natural element in your conversational language and you will be able to integrate it into your negotiations.

Practice Negotiating

As obvious as it sounds, the ticket to being a better negotiator is to negotiate.  The more you do it, the more comfortable you will be which will lead to a better outcome. Start with small low-stakes situations and work your way up to more important ones.  You can negotiate responsibilities at home with family members and then work toward commanding more authority in the workplace.  As you practice negotiating in your daily life, you will improve your communication skills and your confidence.

These exercises, coupled with your own self-commitment, can help you to become a more powerful negotiator.  You will become a better speaker, a better listener, and you will learn how to navigate any negotiation.

There is no question that negotiation skills are an important part of the business world.  In today’s increasingly competitive market, the ability to negotiate effectively is valued more than ever before.  However, most of us could use some help sharpening these skills.  Negotiating can be a daunting and uncomfortable task for many, so it can be difficult to know which steps to take in order to strengthen our negotiating skills.  With the following tips, you can build powerful negotiation skills in order to become a better leader. Here are four things you can do to dramatically enhance your ability to negotiate.

1. Thoroughly Prepare for Negotiations

It can be very easy to neglect this part of the negotiation process but you should never underestimate the power of preparation.  Most people think of negotiation as a win/lose proposition in which they fight to defeat their opponent.  However, successful negotiation involves communication in which both parties strive to reach a mutual agreement.  This means that before you enter into any negotiation you should be aware of the needs of your counterpart.  You need to research the long-term benefits of your proposition before laying it out on the table.  You also need to gather as much information about the other party and find out what makes them act and react.  By preparing in advance you will be able to work out different scenarios so you will be well prepared regardless of how the conversation goes.

2. Be Proactive About Negotiation Training

If you are looking to improve your negotiation techniques you shouldn’t wait for your employer to force you to attend a training seminar.  Take the reins yourself and commit to attending a training course for your own benefit.  When you attend training, don’t just take notes and memorize what the instructor is saying.  Rather, think about how the concepts relate to your specific job and ask for advice on how to implement these techniques.  Proactive students find a way to relate information to real life, making them much more apt to retain the information and improve their skills.

3. Consider a Negotiation Coach

If you have an important negotiation coming up you can really benefit from getting some expert advice.  Find someone in your company who is well-versed in this area that can sit down and role play different scenarios with you.   A negotiation coach can also help you identify areas of weakness and offer suggestions for improvement.  Together, you can set goals, figure out which techniques you are most comfortable with, and learn how to effectively communicate.

4. Practice, Practice, Practice!

As with anything else, practice makes perfect.  Developing new strategies and techniques takes time and the more you practice the more comfortable you will be negotiating.  Practice by rehearsing new negotiation skills and using them every chance you get.  Try them out at home and in the workplace with friends and coworkers who will be forgiving of your mistakes.  Over time, you will build your confidence in negotiating and you will have a better understanding of how to handle various situations.

The art of negotiation is an important business skill that can mean the difference between capitalizing on opportunity and taking a loss.  It is especially important for people in the salesforce.  Excellent sales people use these skills to understand their prospect’s needs, communicate clearly with them, and to ensure that the needs of both sides are being met.  Negotiation is a key ingredient in becoming a successful salesperson and here are just a few of the reasons why your sales staff can benefit from negotiation training.

It Will Improve Customer Communication

Successful negotiators know that in order to sell something to their customers they must be able to build open communication.  Negotiation training fosters important skills such as active listening, in order to help sales staff understand the needs and wants of their customers.  It will also help sales staff learn how to build communication skills with all personality types, including those difficult customers.  They will learn how to ask the right questions during the negotiation and build trusting customer relationships. Negotiation training will ultimately lead your sales staff to achieving win-win results.

It Will Help Them Overcome Obstacles

Everyone in the salesforce will face rejection at some point.  This can be difficult for salespeople and they can easily be tempted to give up.  Negotiation training will help your sales staff learn how to identify the root of their rejection and work to overcome it.  One of the best ways to teach this concept is through role playing.  In a training course, one prospect might play the role of the customer who is objecting and the trainee will learn how to navigate this scenario.

It Will Build Confidence

Negotiation is not an easy skill and it makes many people feel uncomfortable.  A negotiation training course will help trainees build a better understanding of the negotiation process and explore various styles.  Through a combination of instruction and role play, they will develop the skills needed to create win-win outcomes.  This will give your sales staff the experience they need to negotiate with confidence.

It Develops Leadership Skills

The sales team is the bones of any industry.  Whether you are selling a product or a service, it takes a successful sales team to bring new clients to the company.  A negotiation training course will teach your sales team how to use effective communication in order to develop valuable relationships with clients.  The ability to reach these clients is the heart of sales, and the core of leadership.  In addition to building a better sales team, negotiation training will build leadership skills as well.

Negotiation plays a crucial role in every aspect of the selling process.  By providing your sales staff with negotiation training, you are equipping them with the skills necessary to become confident, successful leaders.

We encounter negotiations in our lives every day, from deciding what we are going to have for dinner to working to close a huge business deal.  In some cases the stakes seem pretty low while in others, such as the business example, the outcome can mean the difference between getting a promotion or not.  For FBI professionals working with a hostage situation, the results of the negotiation can be life or death.  While our everyday lives do not typically involve such high risk situations, it is important to look at some of the FBI’s negotiation strategies and figure out how to translate them into the business world.  Below are four tactics used in hostage negotiations that can be also be applied to your professional career.

1. Be an Active Listener

Perhaps the most critical technique in hostage negotiations is active listening.  This means you must actually listen to what the other side is saying and make them aware that you are listening.  You need to acknowledge their feelings and try to understand where they are coming from.  When you listen intently and demonstrate empathy for the other side, they will begin to trust you.  This same principle can be applied to business negotiations.  If during a business negotiation your sole objective is to make your argument, you are not listening to your counterpart and they will not be as inclined to want to work with you.  Conversely, when you take a genuine interest in the other’s feelings, they will build trust with you and you will have the ability to influence them.

2. Use the Mirrroring Technique

In any negotiation it is crucial to get as much information from the other side as possible.  By mirroring your counterpart and repeating 3 to 5 keywords in their last sentence, people are forced to naturally repeat themselves in a different way that gives even more information in an attempt to clarify their points.  For example, if your counterpart mentions “I am tired of paying too much for this service,” you simply reply with a statement like “paying too much, huh.” While it might feel awkward, it causes the other person to explain their point again from a different angle.  When you gather more information about your counterparts needs, you are able to get a better understanding of their desired outcomes.  The best part about this technique is that it works every time and no one even knows you are doing it!

3. Ask Open-Ended Questions

The idea in a negotiation is to gather information so you do not want yes/no answers.  You want the other person to open up about their motivations so you always want to lead with open-ended questions.  The simple questions “how?” and “what?” are two of the most powerful interrogatives.  They encourage the other side to give more information and reveal their true motive.  For example, if someone demands $1 million in ransom money, the negotiator’s response might be, “tell me how I am supposed to do that.”  This  forces the other the other side to actually put themselves in your shoes and they will actually have to be on your side for a moment. Likewise, in business, asking a question such as “what is it about this 30-day window that works for you?” will reveal the true intentions of your counterpart.

4. Never Lie to Anyone

There are long-term effects associated with lying.  In a hostage negotiation, if word gets out that the FBI lies other kidnappers will not even attempt a compromise.   In a business situation, making empty promises can seem like an easy way to get what you want right then.  However, if word gets out that you lied you have lost all accountability for future negotiations.  The best rule of thumb is not to lie in the first place.

While most people will never deal with negotiating a deal that could result in life or death, we can all learn from the negotiation tactics of the FBI.  These amazingly effective negotiation strategies can help you become a better negotiator in your professional career.

If you have ever bought a car, chances are you had a few experiences with a used car salesman.  While many people shudder at the idea of having to walk onto a car lot and get hounded by the salesman, the fact is this is a profession that takes a great deal of insight.  While you might not want to try your hand at selling cars, there are actually several valuable lessons that you can learn from the men and women in this profession.  The following are just three important lessons that can be learned from any used car salesman.

Lesson #1: Listen First

A good car salesman understands the importance of listening to the customer before making any recommendations.  In order to help the customer find the right car, the salesman must first find out what their needs are.  Is this a young couple looking for a bigger car to start a family?  Does this customer need a reliable vehicle for work?  Does this customer want a luxury vehicle?  This same principle is helpful in the business world.  Instead of convincing a customer that your product or service will meet their needs, start listening to what the customer is actually looking for and then determine how you can help them.

Lesson #2: Know Your Products

In order to be successful at any job it is imperative that you are familiar with your products or services.  For a car salesman, it is no easy task to keep up with the constantly changing inventory on the lot, not to mention knowing all of the features of various makes and models.  That said, these salesmen must stay up to date with new line models and the cars that are being brought in each day.  For anyone who sells anything, having a strong knowledge of the details of an ever-changing product line is a must.

Lesson #3: Let the Customer Fall in Love

Assuming that you have accomplished the first two tasks, you listened to your customer’s needs and paired them up with available products, you should be able to make a recommendation that will be so spot on you can almost guarantee the sale.  Good car salesmen know that selling a car doesn’t take much convincing.  They let the products speak for themselves.  The same is true in the business world.  If you do a good job of setting a customer up with just the right product or service, you can almost sit back and allow the customer to fall in love.

While selling used cars might not seem like the most glamorous job, it is certainly a profession that requires skills that just about any business professional can learn from.  These are just a few of the important lessons that can be learned from a car salesman, but will be helpful in nearly every facet of the business world as well.

Negotiation and bargaining are two techniques that are utilized every day in the workplace, at home, or in a common marketplace.  People often confuse these two terms because of their similarities, but in fact there are distinct differences between the two.  By developing a solid understanding of this distinction, you can create an awareness of how and when to use each technique.

Bargaining

Bargaining is a technique that deals with price alone.  The focus is on who is right and it is a competitive technique with a win-lose outcome. If you are haggling between price and quality, you are participating in bargaining.  In this technique, each side is seeking only economic benefit and one side always ends up feeling cheated.  For this reason, bargaining is not always the best option for consumers.  Bargaining does not involve taking into account the needs of your counterpart.  Rather, each side is seeking to get the greatest economic benefit out of the deal.

Negotiation

Negotiation is a technique that applies to much more than price alone.  It is an exchange of values, agreements, and promises of performance.  The focus is on what is right and it is a cooperative technique with a win-win outcome.    Negotiation involves trust and openness between the two parties.  It involves listening to your counterpart to find out what their needs are and working on a plan to meet those needs.  Negotiation is much more lucrative for consumers because each party focuses on what is truly important to the other.  The focus is shifted from numbers alone and moves toward a common goal where everybody comes out a winner.

Typically, when we think of bargaining we think of an open marketplace in Asia or South America where haggling over the price of anything from pineapple to jewelry is almost considered a sport.   While negotiating might include a focus on price, the fact is it deals with so much more.  For entrepreneurs and business professionals, understanding this distinction can mean the difference between closing the deal and closing the right deal.  Anyone can adjust the price of their product or service to win over their counterpart, but the other party is left feeling cheated.  Learning the art of negotiation can help professionals close a deal in which both parties feel like they have “won.”

Whether you are in the board room, on a sales call, or in an interview, negotiating is going to be a regular part of any professional career. You might be negotiating your salary and benefits or dealing with a client and trying to negotiate an important deal. Either way, your ability to negotiate will have a significant impact on your career and is crucial to your long-term success. No matter what you are negotiating, there are certain things you should always do prior to beginning any negotiations. These are critical must-do’s that will put you in a good position to negotiate just about anything.

Gather Background Information
Walking into a negotiation blindly can ruin your chances for a successful negotiation. You should enter into any negotiation with as much knowledge as possible. For example, if you are negotiating a higher salary you should be privy to what other people in similar positions make. You should also have evidence of your achievements to show during the salary negotiation. If you are negotiating with a client, you should have a good understanding of what their needs are and how you plan to meet them. If you are negotiating a product, you should have an understanding of what makes certain products more valuable than others. Always come prepared with statistics and information to present during your negotiation. Any background
information you have will put you in a better position to negotiate successfully.

Prepare a Plan
You need to prepare a plan in advance based on hypothetical scenarios. What are you going to do if your boss refuses a raise? What will you say if your counterpart remains firm on their price? What if your negotiator turns you away? Preparing for all of these possibilities in advance will help you to be prepared for any response. You will be more confident knowing that you have a contingency plan and you will be less likely to be caught off guard and pushed into making impulsive decisions. You can’t always prepare for everything, but knowing how you will react to potential situations will give you a better understanding of how to handle challenges that might come your way.

Decide on a Goal
Before walking into a negotiation, you need to have some idea of what you want in the end result. What is your bottom line? What number are you trying to get to? For example, if you are negotiating salary and your goal is to get a 7% raise, you should probably go in asking for 10% and negotiate down to 7%. Having a goal in mind will give you some direction as to how you should negotiate.

Practice
Nothing is more important when preparing for a negotiation than practice. If you are preparing for a negotiation at work, practice with a friend or coworker with some prepared responses or justifications for your claims. The more you practice the more confident you will be when it comes time to do it for real. It will help you to appear more natural and increase your chances for a successful negotiation.

The ability to negotiate effectively can mean the difference between success and failure in the business world. Those employees who possess strong negotiations skills tend to rise to the top of their industry. There will always be conflicts in business, and the ability to solve them can lead to much greater success in your career. Negotiation is an essential skill needed for career advancement and we are going to take a look at a few reasons why.

Good Negotiators are Good Communicators
The art of negotiation involves communicating your needs and wants in a way that is clear, concise, and convincing. When employees are good negotiators, their company also sees them as strong communicators. Businesses want employees who can communicate well with colleagues, partners, and customers.

You Will Bring More Revenue
Of course any business is out to make a profit and a good negotiator can do just that. If you are trying to sell a product or secure a contract, you will need to have good negotiation skills in order to make that happen. Your ability to close deals will make you a valuable asset to your company, thus making you a good candidate for career advancement.

Good Negotiators are Effective Listeners
In order to be successful in negotiation, you must be able to listen to your counterpart to see what they want. The ability to listen effectively can also make you valuable in other areas of you career such as management, customer service, or leading a team project.

You Will Get Noticed
Those employees who are exceptional negotiators are more likely to stand out in the company. They are the ones who are closing the most business, building strong customer relationships, and increasing profits for the company. When managers see your performance, you are more likely to be given bigger jobs to handle, more important clients to deal with, and ultimately a better career.

You Will Be Able to Negotiate Salary and Promotions
Negotiation skills are vital when it comes to negotiating salary or interviewing for a new position. If you are an excellent negotiator, this skill will help you when it comes time for a pay raise or promotion. Your ability to negotiate will help you to get the pay you deserve and possibly even a better position.

By improving your negotiation skills, you are creating an environment for success. This is definitely one of the most important skills to develop as a business professional, and it will reap great benefits for your career.

The ability to negotiate effectively is among the most important skills for anyone in the business field. It can help you build better working relationships with peers and customers, solve conflicts within the workplace, close important business deals, and eventually climb the corporate ladder. However, this is not a skill that comes easily to most people. In fact, the majority of those working in the business field are not well versed when it comes to negotiating. Many people even feel uncomfortable negotiating within the business. That is why it is important to understand these fundamental tips that can help improve the way professionals negotiate in business. Continue reading →