Most people I meet look for ways to achieve better results through negotiations. Using a college exam analogy, they want to move from, let’s say, a 70% score to 90%.
Negotiations are like an exam. Failure to prepare is preparing for failure! The problem is that negotiations are like an open book exam – lots of pages, lots of things to cover and not sure where to start. That's exactly why it is important to undergo professional negotiation skills training to equip yourself with advanced negotiation skills that every level of management demands - key account management training, salesmanship training or business strategy execution training and a lot more.
If there is one thing you want to do – it is to be clear about your objectives. What is it you want to achieve? Not being clear on the outcomes is like getting into a taxi and not being sure where you want to go. The taxi ride will unlikely result in the quickest or lowest cost outcome.
Many people go into a meeting not sure about what they want. Be clear about the variables you want to negotiate e.g., price, delivery, warranty, payment terms etc. Set a realistic goal for each variable. Prioritize the variables – which is most important, which is less – where you can be prepared to be flexible and where you cannot
Proper negotiation skills training is not just getting professionally trained in the nuances of negotiation. But it also involves other fractals like learning conflict management techniques, adjournment, body language, communication & a lot more that are inevitable to achieve successful negotiation outcomes
On an ending note, understanding negotiation skills is not a one-time event. Get the help of appropriate professional negotiation skills training platforms to explore powerful negotiation skills right from the negotiation essentials to advanced negotiation skills training to crack successful negotiations & achieve better negotiation outcomes.
All the best!