Negotiate like a pro

By Sharon Tieman | Dec 04, 10 01:23 PM

You just need to understand a few simple ground rules if you want to negotiate like a star.

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Negotiating – whether it’s for a better interest rate on your home loan or a major business transaction – can be daunting. However, you can make it an easier process, which achieves the outcome you want, by following some simple rules.

Step 1: Ask
That’s right. Ask. Sometimes, you can get a better deal simply by asking the question. It’s that simple. However, some questions will achieve better results than others, depending on the situation and what you’re comfortable with asking. Here are some examples:

“Is this the best way I can do this deal today?”
This one lets the other party come up with ways to save you money or achieve your goals. It works well in retail situations or negotiating on extra items. But it also works well with government departments or big institutions that can often offer you a better deal – but only do so if you ask. For example, I’ve been in situations where I’ve asked this question. The answer might be something like: “Well, if you were a member of the NRMA or RACV, you would get another 10 per cent off.” I am a member of the NRMA but if I never asked, I would never have found out about the discount.

“The numbers aren’t working for me, what can we do about it?”
This encourages the other party to come up with the right answer for you. It seems to work particularly well if you are negotiating via email. It’s not offensive. In a sense, you are blaming the figures, not yourself, when you are asking for a better price in this way. Blaming someone else, like the accountant or the finance department is a good strategy. It removes you from being the bad guy and the reality is that you’ll likely have to report to those departments anyway.

“My budget for this is $1,000 – how can we make that work?”
This is another good strategy that encourages the other party to come up with options to fit your budget. It’s amazing how resourceful people can become in saving you money or helping you get the deal you want.

Having the guts to do it
One obstacle people face when asking in a negotiating process is simply to have the guts to do so. So I suggest that you just start off small. Start by asking for something when it really wouldn’t matter to you if you got a better deal or not. Get some confidence, see the results and, after a while, you’ll feel like you can ask anyone.

Step 2: Be friendly
This is simply about being courteous, gracious, friendly and warm. In other words, just be a nice person. Build up a rapport with the people you do business with, the shop assistant, or whomever you are negotiating with, and your success rate will increase.

Step 3: explain a good reason
Explaining a good reason for the deal terms that you want will increase your chances of achieving them. There is a famous story that explains this well. There were some university students who wanted to prove this theory to see if you got a better result when you asked for something while giving a good reason. So they tried it out on people in the queue for the photocopier.
First, they tried asking the questions without a reason: “Can I go next?” Many people let them in, although some did grumble about it. Some people told them to get lost, but not as many as you would think. Then they did the same experiment the next day but gave a good reason: “Do you mind if I go next, I’ve got the lecturer on my case to get this copying done and he said if I’m not back in five minutes he’ll fail me.” The response from asking the question and providing a good reason dramatically improved the result and people didn’t grumble about it. In fact, they felt good because they were helping out a buddy. Giving a good reason is much more powerful.

Use the awkward pause
So ask the question, be nice about it and give a good reason. Then … shut up. Don’t say another word, just smile. Because, as the saying goes, the next person to talk … loses. I’ve seen this time and time again. I’ve been guilty of it myself. You keep talking so much that you actually talk yourself out of the deal. You talk so much that you give the other person a good reason not to give you the price. The awkward silence actually works in your favour.

Remember these rules when negotiating:

Whoever has the most emotion attached to the deal has less power. If you are really emotional about the product or service you want, either don’t let on, or get someone else to do the negotiating for you.

Whoever has the most time restraint attached to the deal has less power. When I talk about time restraint, I mean the deadline for you wanting the deal done. For instance, if you are launching a new product and need the invitations to go to clients a week before and you’re finding it hard to get a printer to do the job in time, you’ll take whichever one will do the job. The key is that if you are under a time restraint, don’t let the person you are negotiating know. But negotiate the delivery into the deal without letting on how important it is to you.

Whoever has the most knowledge or information about the deal has more power. If you are about to negotiate with a company or person that you’re a little intimidated by, ask others what they know about that business/person and how they have handled them in the past. It’s amazing what information you can collect and, armed with this information, you can ask for a better deal. This particularly works well dealing with government departments, phone companies and banks. Do your homework on the bigger deals. Go in with as much information as you can and you’ll feel more confident and powerful when you present the deal.

And you’ll notice, I refer to “a better deal”, not “a better price”. That’s because a better deal is the one that suits your needs. This could be splitting payments over a few months, trading information for money, buying in bulk, the list is endless. Present the deal in such a way that you both win. When you negotiate so that both parties win, you can still have a relationship with the other person/business in the future.

And with that, I want to leave one final thought with you: Just remember that, in life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate!

Sharon Tieman is author of “Negotiating to get on top – powerful negotiating strategies for women who mean business”. www.madamemarketing.com

You just need to understand a few simple ground rules if you want to negotiate like a star. By Sharon Tieman.

Negotiating – whether it’s for a better interest rate on your home loan or a major business transaction – can be daunting. However, you can make it an easier process, which achieves the outcome you want, by following some simple rules.

Step 1: Ask
That’s right. Ask. Sometimes, you can get a better deal simply by asking the question. It’s that simple. However, some questions will achieve better results than others, depending on the situation and what you’re comfortable with asking. Here are some examples:

“Is this the best way I can do this deal today?”
This one lets the other party come up with ways to save you money or achieve your goals. It works well in retail situations or negotiating on extra items. But it also works well with government departments or big institutions that can often offer you a better deal – but only do so if you ask. For example, I’ve been in situations where I’ve asked this question. The answer might be something like: “Well, if you were a member of the NRMA or RACV, you would get another 10 per cent off.” I am a member of the NRMA but if I never asked, I would never have found out about the discount.

“The numbers aren’t working for me, what can we do about it?” This encourages the other party to come up with the right answer for you. It seems to work particularly well if you are negotiating via email. It’s not offensive. In a sense, you are blaming the figures, not yourself, when you are asking for a better price in this way. Blaming someone else, like the accountant or the finance department is a good strategy. It removes you from being the bad guy and the reality is that you’ll likely have to report to those departments anyway.

“My budget for this is $1,000 – how can we make that work?” This is another good strategy that encourages the other party to come up with options to fit your budget. It’s amazing how resourceful people can become in saving you money or helping you get the deal you want.

Having the guts to do it
One obstacle people face when asking in a negotiating process is simply to have the guts to do so. So I suggest that you just start off small. Start by asking for something when it really wouldn’t matter to you if you got a better deal or not. Get some confidence, see the results and, after a while, you’ll feel like you can ask anyone.

Step 2: Be friendly
This is simply about being courteous, gracious, friendly and warm. In other words, just be a nice person. Build up a rapport with the people you do business with, the shop assistant, or whomever you are negotiating with, and your success rate will increase.

Step 3: explain a good reason
Explaining a good reason for the deal terms that you want will increase your chances of achieving them. There is a famous story that explains this well. There were some university students who wanted to prove this theory to see if you got a better result when you asked for something while giving a good reason. So they tried it out on people in the queue for the photocopier.
First, they tried asking the questions without a reason: “Can I go next?” Many people let them in, although some did grumble about it. Some people told them to get lost, but not as many as you would think. Then they did the same experiment the next day but gave a good reason: “Do you mind if I go next, I’ve got the lecturer on my case to get this copying done and he said if I’m not back in five minutes he’ll fail me.” The response from asking the question and providing a good reason dramatically improved the result and people didn’t grumble about it. In fact, they felt good because they were helping out a buddy. Giving a good reason is much more powerful.

Use the awkward pause
So ask the question, be nice about it and give a good reason. Then … shut up. Don’t say another word, just smile. Because, as the saying goes, the next person to talk … loses. I’ve seen this time and time again. I’ve been guilty of it myself. You keep talking so much that you actually talk yourself out of the deal. You talk so much that you give the other person a good reason not to give you the price. The awkward silence actually works in your favour.

Remember these rules when negotiating:

Whoever has the most emotion attached to the deal has less power. If you are really emotional about the product or service you want, either don’t let on, or get someone else to do the negotiating for you.

Whoever has the most time restraint attached to the deal has less power. When I talk about time restraint, I mean the deadline for you wanting the deal done. For instance, if you are launching a new product and need the invitations to go to clients a week before and you’re finding it hard to get a printer to do the job in time, you’ll take whichever one will do the job. The key is that if you are under a time restraint, don’t let the person you are negotiating know. But negotiate the delivery into the deal without letting on how important it is to you.

Whoever has the most knowledge or information about the deal has more power. If you are about to negotiate with a company or person that you’re a little intimidated by, ask others what they know about that business/person and how they have handled them in the past. It’s amazing what information you can collect and, armed with this information, you can ask for a better deal. This particularly works well dealing with government departments, phone companies and banks. Do your homework on the bigger deals. Go in with as much information as you can and you’ll feel more confident and powerful when you present the deal.

And you’ll notice, I refer to “a better deal”, not “a better price”. That’s because a better deal is the one that suits your needs. This could be splitting payments over a few months, trading information for money, buying in bulk, the list is endless. Present the deal in such a way that you both win. When you negotiate so that both parties win, you can still have a relationship with the other person/business in the future.

And with that, I want to leave one final thought with you: Just remember that, in life, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate!

Sharon Tieman is author of “Negotiating to get on top – powerful negotiating strategies for women who mean business”. www.madamemarketing.com