The Accidental Negotiator

It eventually happens to all of us: you are in the middle of negotiation when you realized that things have become deadlocked.  

There are a lot of different ways that you may have found yourself in  this situation such as after both sides have used their negotiation  styles and negotiating techniques to exchange a series of offers and  counteroffers. With each of you stuck in your very different positions, you can’t seem to find a solution that pleases you both. 

What’s a negotiator to do now?

When we negotiate, it’s all about winning. 

Our goal is  to use our negotiation styles and negotiating techniques to create a  deal that the other side will agree with and which is a win for us. We can define a “win” in a lot of different ways:  a lower price, a higher price, more time to deliver, delivery sooner  then expected, etc. However, somewhat surprisingly, not all negotiations  work out this way. 

Sometimes lose-lose is the way that you want to go.

When you are negotiating a sale, you’d like to be able to use your  negotiation styles and negotiating techniques get the other side to agree to the offer that you are making to them.  

There are a number of different ways to make this happen. In sales  negotiations, making the first offer is often a smart move. The reason  that this is a good idea is because the first offer can anchor the  discussion that follows and can have a powerful effect on the final  outcome. However, if the other side moves faster than you and they make  the first offer, you’ll need to be prepared to frame your counteroffer carefully. 

You are going to need some sales negotiation techniques to get what you want.

The reason that we are willing to invest the time in a negotiation is  because we believe that by using our negotiation styles and negotiating  techniques we’ll be able to eventually reach a deal with the other side.  

However, in order to make that happen, at some point in time the negotiations have to come to an end. We need to close them down. In the movie Glengarry Glen Ross Alec Baldwin’s character tells his employees “ABC: Always Be Closing”.  This is not a good idea – it’s a bit cutthroat and it means that you  have to ignore the other side’s needs. 

What’s the right way to wrap up a  negotiation?

We’ve all heard about mutually beneficial agreements, but can anyone say just exactly what they are? 

By one definition, a mutually beneficial agreement occurs when both sides of the table attempt to use their negotiation  styles and negotiating techniques to grab as much as they possibly can  from the limited amount of items that are being negotiated. I think that  a much better definition has to do with taking the time to create more value during a negotiation and then making sure that everyone is taken care of in the final deal.  

Great words, but just exactly how does one go about doing this?

In the world of negotiating, we all run into negotiating situations that can be stressful.  

The other side gets upset with us for some reason, they rant and rave  and make a wide variety of threats, we try to keep things moving forward  and ultimately if we are lucky we are able to reach a deal with them.  Just imagine how hard it would be to be a member of the New York City Police Department’s Hostage Negotiation Team. Every negotiation that they go into is going to be stressful. 

How the heck do they deal with negotiations like that?

So first off let’s all agree on something: I don’t really care if you love or hate President Donald Trump. 

That’s not what I’m talking about. Instead, considering that he’s in a very powerful position in which he gets to talk to world leaders on a daily basis,  I’m interested in how good of a negotiator he is. He did write /  co-author a book on negotiating and so you’d think that he’d be pretty  good at this stuff. 

Let’s take a look and see what techniques he has  been using as a part of his presidency so far.

You might think that every principled negotiation starts out the same  way: with a blank sheet of paper. 

However, in a number of situations  that I’ve found myself in this is not the case. Instead, what has  happened is that for whatever reason because of the negotiation styles  and negotiating techniques being used, my client allowed themselves to get sucked into signing a bad deal.  Now they find themselves living with a deal that is not in their best  interests and they want to have it changed. Enter the (re) negotiator.  

What’s the best way to turn a bad deal into a better deal?

What would the perfect negotiation look like to you? 

Would it happen if  you sat down at the negotiating table, presented the other side with an  offer without using any of your negotiation styles or negotiating  techniques, they accepted it and everything was over and done?  Immediately sensing that you asked for too little, you would probably feel as though you had screwed up. In a negotiation, we’re often excited to close a deal. But at times, the fact that we’ve “won” a prize means that we’ve become the latest victim of the “winner’s curse”. 

The good news for you is that there are steps you can take to avoid the winner’s curse in negotiations.

If we want to become better negotiators, how can we go about doing this?  

It turns out that the best bargaining tips should offer ways to enhance  your bargaining power in negotiation no matter what negotiation styles  or negotiating techniques are being used. If we want to make this  happen, then we must cultivate a strong BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement. As you can well imagine, the more appealing your best alternative is, the more comfortable you will feel asking for more in your current negotiation – you will be secure in the knowledge that you have a good alternative option waiting in the wings.  BATNA development is more complex than just searching for a good Plan  B. 

Let’s talk about bargaining tips and strategies for negotiators  seeking to improve their BATNA.