Everyone can negotiate from a place of strength. When you know you offer the best product, service, or customer support, you can easily push through the tough talks. What happens when your company asks you to keep producing results after a major professional or organizational setback? Knowing how to negotiate at your weakest will give you strength.
Create a Mindset of Resilience
Perhaps a powerful client wrote a scathing review of the business online or you gave a client the wrong quote and need to backtrack in your negotiations to meet your sales targets. In any tough situation, a negotiator could crumble or could look for ways to turn those seeming setbacks into opportunity. Negotiation resiliency is a concept that describes a person’s ability to recover quickly in the light of adverse negotiation outcomes.
Anyone can train his or her mind to immediately go into problem-solving mode, persevere, and see opportunity in the face of adversity. If you can master negotiation resiliency, you can salvage the deal and/or relationship.
Recognize Your Own Value
Use your newfound resilience to take a second glance at the situation. Assess the situation placing an emphasis on the other party’s needs, weaknesses, and attitudes. If you understand the motivations driving someone else, you can craft a pitch or negotiation argument to match even the most powerful positions. You always have something of value to offer. Find your competitive advantage and deliver. Actively listen in negotiations to find the opportunity in every interaction.
Successful negotiation is about finding a way for both parties to succeed. Look for the mutual benefit in promotion negotiations, client relationships, and contract negotiations.
Engage Effectively
With the right mindset and research supporting the claim, a negotiator can move into an engagement phase. Many people benefit from negotiations training as a way to put preparation into action. Tone, appearance, diction, and even handshakes build confidence and credibility.
Practice the following negotiation techniques to maintain your position of strength:
- Avoid rushing your speech. Take measured breaths, pause for effect, and practice your position until you can present it with confidence.
- Ask questions. Ask open-ended questions and listen carefully to answers. Take notes and use the other party’s comments to strengthen your own position.
- Give the other party time to think. In difficult negotiations, avoid forcing someone into a decision too early.
Every interaction builds a narrative. You can choose to react to the other person’s point of view or create your own. In negotiations, the person who shapes the narrative often receives the most support. Look for ways to counter weaknesses without appearing defensive. Take responsibility for shortcomings while firmly promoting your strengths.
Shift Your Definition of Success
Consider the big picture in every negotiation. Occasionally, conceding terms can set you and/or your organization up for future success. If, for example, you might lose a client if you refuse to drop a small contracted service, altering the terms of the contract may make more sense than enforcing the terms of the full contract.
Prioritize your mindset, conduct research, and carefully engage the other party to negotiate from a point of weakness. Handling a difficult situation with grace, maturity, and ease can turn a defeat into an unmitigated success.
