Negotiation Training

Our public Negotiation seminars and in house Negotiations workshops are enlightening, educational, measurable and fun. Negotiation training courses can be scheduled at your offices or through our open enrollment classes. We do offer negotiation skills training seminars to the general public.

Contact us today to discuss your specific Negotiation training needs or to sign up for one of our public negotiations workshops. 

Participants in the Win- Win Negotiations class will learn to:

• Develop an effective plan and strategy for any negotiation
  
• Know when and when not to negotiate
  
• Negotiate face-to-face, on the phone, and through e-mail
  
• Learn to become a more persuasive negotiator
  
• Develop a common negotiating language with the other parties
  
• Use negotiation techniques that pull information from the other parties
  
• Read client and employee behaviors styles to maximize closure
  
• Recognize interests and issues and avoid unnecessary positions
  
• Neutralize manipulative negotiation tactics
  
• Minimize negotiation conflicts and deadlocks both internally and externally
  
• Coordinate negotiations within client organization
  
• Meet business objectives by focusing on planning rather than on tactics

In this world there are two types of negotiators: the good ones and everyone else. The goal of any negotiator is to become a member of the group of good negotiators. The challenge is that the path to becoming a good negotiator is not always clear. However, there are two basic skills that lay on this path: persistence, and the ability to take the right risks.

Negotiation Strategies: Persistence Pays Off For Negotiators

Persistence is one of those skills that we all think should be obvious for every negotiator; however, it's very easy to not have it. When the other side of the table says "no" to one of our offers during a negotiation, it's very easy to lose heart and give up.

However, the negotiator who uses negotiation strategies that treat every "no" as a step towards "yes" is the one who will be successful in the end. Realizing that there is a reason that the other side is saying no, and then being persistent enough to continue talking until you uncover that reason, is the best of negotiation strategies and the key to success.

In many cases, American negotiators have been confronted with negotiators from other countries who appeared to be unmovable in their positions. Day after day negotiations would continue, with no progress being made. In the cases where the Americans would return to the table and not give up, eventually progress would be made. The other side's "unmovable" position was just a ploy to see how committed the Americans were to the negotiations.

Negotiation Strategies: Risk Taking Has Its Rewards

Being persistent in a negotiation is a form of risk taking: you are risking continuing down a path that may not pan out for you. However, there are other forms of risk taking that can occur in negotiation strategies:

1. Deadlock: The risk of encountering a deadlock faces every negotiator. The more you press a point, the greater the possibility that the other side will become unyielding. A skilled negotiator knows how to not force the other side into a position where there is no way out.
2. Losing Current Deals: Whenever a change to an existing deal is being negotiated, both parties realize that there is a risk that they could walk away from the table with no deal at all. Often it's this fear of losing an existing deal that will keep both parties at the table. Sharp negotiators realize this and will be willing to push harder with their negotiation strategies because they know the other side of the table won't walk away.
3. Losing Opportunities: Both buyers and sellers can potentially not realize that a deal is more important to the other side than it seems at first glance. Sellers may be trying to break into a new market or buyers may be trying to get additional suppliers. In situations like this, the other side of the table can press harder because the risk of reaching a deadlock is much less.

Final Thoughts

Successful negotiators aren't that much different from everyone else. The things that distinguish them are actually very small details. Two of the most important features of a good negotiator are the negotiation strategies of persistence and knowing when to take risks.

Persistence means knowing when to keep on even after you've been told "no" by the other side. Good risk taking is when you know that your persistence will pay off for you in the end. When you can combine these negotiation skills, you will have become a good negotiator, and you will be able to close better deals and close them quicker.

Dr. Jim Anderson: http://www.TheAccidentalNegotiator.com

Notes: Negotiation Strategies

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