Negotiations 101: A Dozen Things You Need To Understand To Be An Effective Negotiator
Every business person has been subjected to some type of negotiation advice. Many of us, 
like me, have taken negotiation courses. Some of us, like me, have learned negotiation lessons the hard way.
I am going to list twelve general principles of negotiation practice in this post and expand on each of them in subsequent posts. In this, I will not take the approach of suggesting that you keep the room freezing, that you make your opponent face bright windows or that you raise your chair slightly higher than the other participants. These, like many of such ilk, are bush league suggestions and really don't address real negotiation issues.
So, with that premise, here are twelve things you absolutely need to understand to be an effective negotiator:
- Approach each negotiation as a mutual problem solving exercise.
- Know the deal you want and how much leeway you have within acceptable parameters.
- Never get personal or take anything personally.
- Be prepared to walk away at any time. It's never too late.
- Try to avoid getting "double negotiated".
- Don't hurry or be rushed and try to avoid having to comply with the other party's "rules".
- Trade groups of issues for groups of issues. Try not to come down to one sticking point.
- Try to look at the issues from the viewpoint of the other party but don't make unwarranted assumptions.
- Anticipate objections in advance and determine your response.
- Use lawyers judiciously. I know this is strange for an attorney to say and lawyers have their place in negotiations but be sure what that place is.
- Be flexible and creative. This is good advice for everything.
- Negotiation need not be a zero-sum game. Even if you can, sometimes it's not best in the long run to take advantage of a superior negotiating position.
Now, these are not necessarily in order of importance, they overlap in many aspects and the list is not exhaustive. However, in the next few posts, we will explore each of these in greater detail and along the way, I'll tell a few war stories. I would also appreciate hearing some of your pointers and stories of successful and not-so-successful negotiations. I am still learning.
