The most common mistake in negotiations is to be unprepared and initiate with the lowest (if selling)/highest (if buying) acceptable outcome. I once had the opportunity to listen to a seminar by Karin Klerfelt and here are her tips for us to become star negotiators.
1. Initiative; If coming from your opponent, buy yourself time by asking if you can get back later, for example at 2 pm. If coming from you, be prepared.
2. Preparations; Set goals at 3 different levels - best, okay and worst outcome. This gives you space for negotiation.
3. Greeting; Build a good atmosphere by sending a “I want us to reach an agreement” message to your opponent. All your expressions (spoken language, vocal, body language, etc) need to send this message.
4. Introduction; What are the rules – how long will the negotiation take part? Take acceptance!
5. Demands; Ask the opponent. Practice your lines/questions before the meeting. What is the goal, budget, is there any other person that has the final mandate, etc?
6. Agreement; List of demands from opponent needs to be prepared. See to that you reach win-win for both partners. Give and take! This is a human mechanism called “reciprocal action”. Money is not everything, instead of giving a discount you may add a supplementary product. Be flexible!
7. Finnish; Settle the agreement. First make sure to have real eye contact and then summarize what you have agreed upon. To summarize is what drives the meeting forward.
8. Follow up; Important to follow up with the opponent in between negotiation events. This is when you build your relationship before next event.
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