Negotiating: Need Some Tips and Hints

Originally Posted by healymedia

Negotiating is not such a simple process. No one can give you answers to questions like "how much should I go up? What percentage?" because that isn't how negotiating works. How much you go up depends on a huge list of factors.

First of all, there are different kinds of negotiating. There is positional negotiation in which you basically take your position and your only goal is to hold that position, or as close to it as possible, and the best outcome is the one that results in you keeping as much of that position as possible.

Then there is what is often called "principled" negotiation, in which the goal is to understand the issues on both sides and come to an agreement based on a solution that mutually meets the needs of both sides.

Which will you use? It's very dependent on the situation and who you're negotiating with. What is their style?

What information do you have at hand to use in your negotiations? What has the other party done in the past to set precedents you can use to your advantage during negotiation? Are there any precedents or standards set by neutral parties that apply to your advantage? What alternatives to reaching a deal do you have? What alternatives do they have? And the list of questions you can ask yourself goes on and on and on and on.

Knowledge is everything when you negotiate. The more you know about your own side, the other side and about comparable situations with other parties, the better off you are. Throw in a much needed creativity when structuring deals and you'll be golden.

I'd suggest picking up a book or two on negotiation. It's actually a quite complex thing, and it literally takes years of practice to get right, but the results you can obtain when you understand it more completely are far greater than any you could get just winging it.

Originally Posted by healymedia

Negotiating is not such a simple process. No one can give you answers to questions like "how much should I go up? What percentage?" because that isn't how negotiating works. How much you go up depends on a huge list of factors.

First of all, there are different kinds of negotiating. There is positional negotiation in which you basically take your position and your only goal is to hold that position, or as close to it as possible, and the best outcome is the one that results in you keeping as much of that position as possible.

Then there is what is often called "principled" negotiation, in which the goal is to understand the issues on both sides and come to an agreement based on a solution that mutually meets the needs of both sides.

Which will you use? It's very dependent on the situation and who you're negotiating with. What is their style?

What information do you have at hand to use in your negotiations? What has the other party done in the past to set precedents you can use to your advantage during negotiation? Are there any precedents or standards set by neutral parties that apply to your advantage? What alternatives to reaching a deal do you have? What alternatives do they have? And the list of questions you can ask yourself goes on and on and on and on.

Knowledge is everything when you negotiate. The more you know about your own side, the other side and about comparable situations with other parties, the better off you are. Throw in a much needed creativity when structuring deals and you'll be golden.

I'd suggest picking up a book or two on negotiation. It's actually a quite complex thing, and it literally takes years of practice to get right, but the results you can obtain when you understand it more completely are far greater than any you could get just winging it.