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20 Tactics in Negotiating

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By: Stephan Smith | Date: 01 April 2014

20 Tactics in Negotiating New article

 

1. Ask for more than you can get. That allows you to make a counter offer to your partner later and to want the same from them.

 

2. Protract negotiations. This will buy you some time, will make your partner impatient, will delay the closure of the negotiations (of the deal).

 

3. Exaggerate with the errors. Use details as a reason to exercise criticism: the uncertainty of a system, the inability of some kind of function, etc. Make it a big deal.

 

4. Play the role of an authority: give instructions to real and imaginary subordinates, even when actually there is nothing to be commanded.

 

5. Leave your partner  to "explode their gunpowder " first.  Provoke the other side to expose all their arguments. Only after  you put yours so that they will be better remembered. If your partner wants to object, they will have to repeat themselves, which is boring.

 

6. Lead them astray, imply that you know more than they think. In this way, your partner will become insecure and make concessions in the negotiations. I recommend that you do not claim to know something, but just to imply that. For instance:

 

► "If we want to be more precise in this respect, we could add more facts, am I right Mr. Somebody ? "

 

► "If you prefer,  you could turn to company XYZ (your competition) for supplies. Do this (smile!), do this and see what happens. "

 

► "On this topic, I learned one very important fact ... but I’d better not mention it! "

 

► "So this is all you’d like to say on the matter? Are you completely sure? Wouldn’t it be a little awkward if I mention something additional for example? Think twice, is there something else to be said? "

 

7. Give а seemingly premature agreement to find out important details. Refuse (delay) to give a final consent:

 

► "I still cannot imagine all of that. But let’s suppose that we reached an agreement. How would  then the details look like?"

 

► "Generally, I do not mind. But you cannot get my consent now, because some things are still not entirely clear to me. If we supposed that everything would be okay, what would be your behavior in this case, from now on, how would things be going? 

 

8. Ask questions. Ask questions to clarify the vague statements of your partner in order to clear misunderstandings, to avoid the risk of misinterpretation (we are not fortune-tellers! ), to acquire information. The technique of asking questions is a part of the skillful and persuasive negotiating.

 

Whoever asks - leads! Whoever does not ask - is stupid!

 

But in this case it comes down to questions designed to lead and/ or mislead the partner, to block their  thoughts, to cover  our own ignorance or expose the ignorance of your partner. The following questions are very intrusive, especially when you repeat  them:

 

► "What will the consequences of this be (these reflections, this acquisition, these requirements ...)? " - If your partner is unable to formulate precisely the consequences, accuse them of poor preparation for the negotiations.

 

► "What is the ratio between costs and benefits? "

 

► "What is the opinion of the legislator (of the Ministry, of the Company Management, of your ethical Code, of Corporate Principles ... ) on this issue? Were you clear and can you make in this regard binding (engaging ) statements?"

 

9. Interrupt the negotiations. This will allow you to gather new arguments and new material, to contact and reach an agreement with your management, to restructure your thoughts, to refresh, to protract .

 

10. Use the "salami tactics" – achieving the ultimate goal through small pieces. You cannot eat a whole salami at once, but bit by bit! Try to achieve the main goal in small steps. The question is: whether to run 1000 meters or better-                 10 x 100? Ask your partner if they would agree with a certain part of what you are negotiating for (You, of course, choose a less important part!). Given that they agree , ask them for their consent for any other unimportant part. Continue in this way further until you have agreed to the overall objective.

 

11. Offer deviations. Leave your partner to agree first with some pleasant part of your proposal, and then make them agree with some unpleasant for them part.

 

12. Offer changes directly before negotiating. Until your partner does not ruin their mood (or have enough) and give up their own proposal.

 

13. Offer changes directly after an important but non-binding negotiation. Thus, you will be able to adjust the proposal of your partner to your ideas. In the last two points it is not absolutely necessary to change the basics. Minor changes in  respect of conditions, deadlines, prices, discounts, formulations, involved parties and others will also lead to success.

 

14. Give your partner the right in small things, but declare them "big". Then insist on an agreement on the important points that you should belittle.

 

15. Don’t forget about the personal interests of the partner. Do not forget that on the other side stand living people with their hobbies. If you can create a good relationship with your partner based on personal interests, that will help you to gain confidence in the area of business interests.

 

16. Promise your partner personal advantages (benefits). That means financial "contributions", gifts, taking them out to a restaurant. The immaterial are like friendship, mediation in creating important contacts, compliments for their contributions to the negotiations, recognition.

 

17. Refer to friendship, solidarity and corporate consciousness. Convince them that despite everything, we have to help each other and stick together.

 

18. Present yourself as a victim of evil forces and call for humanity. Refer to the sense of national and/ or European identity, call for solidarity against a third foreign "enemy". If you, for example, are coming from the construction industry, declare that your common enemy № 1 is the banking branch and call for solidarity. If you are from the province, declare that your enemy is the capital city and the government, if you are from a poor country, declare that your enemy is globalization etc.

 

19. Share your opinion as if it is generally accepted :

 

► "Everyone knows that ... "

 

► "In this area we have, fortunately, a lot of experience ..."

 

► "Generally, such problems are being solved in the following way ..."

 

► "Today, nobody argues that ...”

 

20. Interpret the opinion of  your partner as an exception. Given that they complain, for example, of poor service, of not keeping deadlines, of errors in the supplies, etc., answer  to them:

 

► "Fortunately, such mistakes (gaps) happen to us very rarely. Thank you for letting us know about this rare incident and I am really sorry that you've been affected by it. "

 

► "In your view there must be some reason for sure. I fear, however, that what you claim is unprovable and you are the only one who supports this position. "

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