Improve Your Negotiation Skills
 By Greg C. Horn

“Everything’s negotiable.” If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ve probably witnessed this truism at work more than once before.

Learning the fine art of negotiation is especially important for small-business owners. Not only can it can help you save money on purchases you make for your business, but it can also come in handy in other ways, such as hiring employees.

Most experts agree that the key to negotiation success is to strive for win-win negotiations in which both sides feel good about the final result, and the working relationship between the parties remains intact. Given this, it’s important to keep your emotions in check during any negotiation.

The negotiation itself is a mutual exploration of each party’s position, with the goal of finding a mutually acceptable compromise that gives each side as much of what it desires as possible. Even if two parties’ positions are fundamentally opposed at the start, a fair, principled negotiation can bring them close enough together to reach an agreement that satisfies both sides.

Here are 10 expert tips for how you can improve your negotiation skills and arrive at more win-win solutions.

1. Know your “walk-away” point
Before the negotiation begins, you must determine at what point you are willing to walk away from the deal. If you don’t, you’ll be vulnerable to getting caught up in your emotions and may end up paying or giving away too much. Ask yourself, “What’s my best possible alternative to a negotiated agreement if it doesn’t look like one can be reached?”

2. Identify your goals for the negotiation
What is it that you really want to accomplish? Again, you need to know this upfront; otherwise, you can get sidetracked by peripheral issues that aren’t really that important.

3. Establish negotiation criteria upfront
Both parties should insist that negotiations be conducted within mutually agreed-upon standards of fairness and civility, and then follow these standards. Not doing so is a sure path to a non-win-win outcome.

4. Do your homework and be prepared
There’s no substitute for thorough preparation before negotiations begin. It’s just as important to know the other party’s goals as it is your own. This will give you an important strategic advantage, so do your research.

5. Separate the people from the issues
Most negotiations are about issues, but it’s easy for things to get personal when negotiations become difficult. Try to avoid personalizing the issues, which often leads to hurt feelings and bitterness afterwards.

6. Focus on interests instead of positions
Behind each negotiating position lies an inherent interest. Put yourself in the other party’s shoes to try to determine this. For example, ask yourself why he or she would take such a position, or how important this position seems is to him or her?

7. Try to create as many options as possible
The more potential options and alternatives there are, the easier it is to come up with compromises that both sides can accept. The best way to do this is to identify shared interests that may lead to areas of agreement. Ideally, look for options that may cost you little or nothing but are of high value to the other party, and vice versa.

8. Uncover the real objection(s) quickly
During the heat of negotiations, issues sometimes become cloudy and it’s hard to tell what one side’s real objections may be. Ask questions, listen carefully and qualify the answers in an effort to uncover what may be the real stumbling block(s) to a satisfactory compromise.

9. Don’t fall for smokescreens
A common negotiation tactic is for one side to throw up a smokescreen to mask what is really important. Again, ask probing questions to try to get to the other party’s true motives or objections.

10. Practice, practice, practice
Practice makes perfect in any endeavor, and it’s no different with negotiation. Look for opportunities to practice wherever you can, even in simple little things like where the family will go out to eat or go on vacation.

(Posted October 2008)

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