A critical negotiation skill in your business negotiations is how you go about deciding your objectives.
I want to provide you with 3 critical points that we cover in our negotiation skills training workshops to think about when you are preparing for your negotiations.
1. What is the absolutely best outcome for you in this negotiation?
What would a fantastic deal (one that you would be delighted to agree to) look like?
We call this your aspiration base - in other words, the level at which you will aspire to close the deal.
You should know that it is important in your negotiation to always ask for a little more than you expect to receive. This means that you must always have an aspiration base that is higher than your targeted outcome. By asking for a little more than you would like to receive you enable yourself to make a concession to your counterpart in return for a counter concession.
On the positive side, you may just get what you regard to be ideal if you ask for it! Don't make the mistake of making decisions on behalf of your counterpart by saying to yourself they will never go for that .Take note that I am not suggesting that you make extreme demands - extreme demands are highly risky and dependent on the cultural context within which you are negotiating.
2. What is the absolutely minimum acceptable outcome for you in this negotiation?
At what stage will you decide to end or postpone your negotiation?
If you do not decide on a specific stage at which it will no longer be possible or desirable for you to reach agreement, then you may become vulnerable to reaching an agreement that you will not be happy with. This is critical to do as you could easily become emotionally committed to reaching agreement at all cost because you may think that your individual credibility is at stake.
3. What do you think are the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels for your counterpart?
It is also important that you think about the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels from your counterparts perspective. This will never be an exact science but through proper planning and investigation of supporting information you may be able to get a good view of what kind of deal is the standard in your industry or type of negotiation.
By thinking about the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels from your counterparts perspective, you will be able to identify the bargaining range. Knowing the bargaining range or zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) will help you to see if a deal is possible or not.
Most negotiation training courses will teach you that the agreement range is defined as the area of overlap between your minimum acceptable deal level and the minimum acceptable deal levels of your counterpart.
Remember that 99 percent of your success at the negotiation table is dependent on the quality of your preparation. You should spend at least as much time preparing for negotiations as you expect to be busy negotiating. If you expect to be in negotiations for an hour, then you should spend at least the same time in preparations.
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