How to do business: The Basic Principles for success in business
What do the souk merchants, Phil Dunphy (real estate broker), the ladies from your mobile phone company who call at naptime, your favorite banker and Eddie Murphy in the film ¨Metro¨ have in common? Well, you see, they all share the basic principles of negotiation. Is that it? No, each and every one of them also feels that passion when it comes to negotiating. A discomfort that attacks even the most experienced negotiators and that can be overcome by professionally blocking this kind of feelings.
How to do business: Preparation
Establish a fixed point of balance. Yeah, this will be the lowest point you could take this deal for. That’s right, the worst-case scenario, the one we really don’t want. But if we don’t establish it, we can come out of the negotiation by accepting a deal that doesn’t suit us.
Get the deal in writing before you start. If you’re representing someone, check it out and point it out consciously. A variation in the points can damage your credibility. Having proper preparation of the points will help avoid many of these problems.
Look at the value that you can bring. Is it hard to find? Is it easy? If what you have in your hands is as expensive and unique as it gets, you are in the best position to negotiate. The most important thing: Do they need this more than you do? Take advantage of the situation. The other way around? Well, you have to make your concessions, which are smaller this time, look huge. Make a weapon out of the emotional bridges you build towards your opponents.
Even if you may feel pressured to take action, try not to underestimate your abilities. Train your patience. Often negotiations are long-distance races in which the one who first gets tired gives in, and many times they accept deals that they would never have accepted if they were at their best.
If it’s more reassuring, you can try to structure your proposals. The things you offer in exchange with other people. A good structuring of your proposals can take you to the top quickly or otherwise it can sink you and freeze you.
Even if it is unintuitive, when it comes to negotiation, if the scene arises, you must be prepared to walk away. Yes, you know your “fixed point of balance” and you will be able to feel when, in the course of the negotiations, you move away from it and from what you really want to get out of the negotiation. That’s the moment you need to be prepared for. Stay away, don’t be afraid, maybe the parties will reach out to you again looking for a new deal or maybe you’ll just lose. But you must be happy, you’ve fought and left on time without compromising your proposals, or maybe you’ve added more value, who knows.
How to do business: Negotiate
It’s time to start. It depends on the situation, but open up wide, from your best position. Still be respectful of logic and communication. Ask, bravely, a little more than you really want. You can always climb over it so you can get back down and stay in good position. As you can see, if you open up too close to the fixed point of equilibrium, you will have almost no room for compromise.
Don’t be afraid of looking, at first, a little excessive and extravagant with your proposal. You never know with these things, maybe you’ll get what you want the first time around. It is difficult, but, think about it, what is the worst thing that could happen? You may be branded as crazy or bold, but that’s business. If someone feels offended because you offered them a price that was too high or too low, well, that’s their problem. The counteroffer will come and they’ll be just as bold.
Collect evidence and show it to your opponent. If you’re going to buy something, anything, and you’ve seen it cheaper around, let me know. Tell them about the place where it is at the lowest price and stress it. “My coworkers earn more in the same position as me, boss. Here are the statistics. The facts of the situation are compromising.
Be warned, do not give anything without getting anything in return. Free in these cases comes at a price. You can say, with your selfless offer, that your position is lower and more delicate. We have to work to always appear to be on top and we cannot afford a single slip-up. If Superman suddenly begins to have a nosebleed on the threshold of a battle due to a lack of iron, his opponents will perceive that he is no longer the indestructible god that they fear so much.
Investigate concessions that don’t really mean a great loss to you but mean a victory for them. Little things that make them believe that they have won a battle when you are more and more on your way to winning the war. Be creative. Think of something that will even benefit both sides. In this way and for this purpose you can also add incentives, extra things, cheap sweets, that simply keep them close to your territory. Many small rather than large incentives can make you believe you’re offering more than you’re actually doing.
These are some of the negotiation techniques we have seen, but you may know others yourself. Do you have more ideas on how to do business? If you have more views on how to do business, you can share them with us in the comment section. From Integria IMS we will appreciate it. Don’t you know Integria IMS yet? Integria IMS is software that has, among other features, an issue management system (help desk software) based on tickets (ticketing), which is able to help you with customer service.
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