At one point or another, you may have realized that in your communication and interaction with the people around you, there are times when you could not agree on something and you would prefer to have it your way more than what the other person suggests or wants.
In order to win it, you make a compromise that would seem amenable to you and the other person. It could also be that the other person will offer a deal which may seem acceptable enough to the both of you. This interactive process of communicating is called negotiation.
Negotiation can happen every time an individual wants something from someone and aims to win the offer given, which in turn, would make things beneficial for both parties. You must have experienced negotiating with your family, or maybe with friends, or with colleagues at work. You can be bargaining for little things just to get what you really want.
Negotiation is part of your day-to-day encounters with people. Some learn to become good negotiators over a handful of personal experience in different situations while others still do not develop this potential within them. Negotiation is not an innate ability. It is a skill that a person needs to acquire and develop over time. You will realize that working on your negotiation skill can truly help you in many ways.
Factors to Consider when Negotiating
It is quite hard to negotiate without knowing what it is that you are bargaining for. Aside from that, you need to consider certain elements and not just think of winning the negotiation. Take into consideration these points:
Goal
Find out what it is you want to get out of negotiating and what the other party also wants.
Trade or Bargain
Negotiation can be achieved through trading or bartering. You give away something and in return, receive that something you wanted to have.
Alternatives
Before getting into a negotiation, you must have already prepared a list of other possible options or alternatives in case your primary plan does not work.
Possible Outcome
Consider the possible outcome of your negotiation plan. Visualize the positive and negative results of it.
Possible Consequences
Apart from the outcome, there are possible consequences as well for winning a negotiation. You must get yourself ready for these repercussions.
Power
Find out who between you and the other party seems to have more control and more power during the negotiation. How effective can you be in getting what you want?
Negotiating with a Style
People have their own ways of winning a negotiation. It depends on how you inject style and technique in negotiating. Bargaining is fairly common in a negotiation tactic. But you cannot expect everyone to give in to your style because no one would probably want to be won over without getting something in return.
In a situation in which negotiation with the other party is hardly ever going to occur in the future, you may use the “playing hardball” negotiation style. Your main goal is to entirely win the negotiation while the other one bites the dust. An example situation where this can be applied is when you are either buying a house or just about any valuable property.
In a circumstance in which many factors need to be considered, where both parties intend to win over in the negotiation, the style of “gamesmanship” can be best applied. People who work in sales commonly use this technique.
Win-Win Negotiation
A win-win negotiation is ideally a good outcome to expect in a negotiation. You reach a compromise with both parties benefiting from the agreement. It is win-win negotiation if both parties are feeling positive about the agreement after it is made. In a win-win situation, what you wish to trade or bargain with the other party is something that the person wants to receive and vice-versa. Otherwise, if one of you is not agreeable to the negotiation, you must give way and offer some form of compensation in order to reach a compromise. A win-win negotiation is very useful if you intend to engage in more negotiations in the future with the other party.
