Top 5 Negotiation Strategies You May Not Know

There are obvious things you should plan for when thinking about which negotiation skills might work best for you, like having a BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) to make sure that you get the best outcome. However, there are some less obvious skills which, deceptive in their simplicity, are effective techniques that you can employ to help you skillfully achieve your best outcome.

These strategies from negotiation classes include things you might not even associate with negotiating, like sharing information. These skills may even be so simple that you hadn’t considered them as effective negotiation techniques, like organizing your priorities in a ranked list.

Sharing Information

When going into meetings, it’s not uncommon to feel one of the best strategies is to play everything close to your vest. The idea behind this is that if you reveal too much, you relinquish any sort of advantage in the process.

While you don’t want to lay all your cards on the table, studies show that it can be useful to reveal some information that isn’t pertinent to the situation—like expressing an interest in a hobby. This small gesture can help foster a stronger relationship.

Sharing information means showing a level of trust with your negotiating partner that works both ways—you trust them enough to share something about yourself, so they should be able to put trust in you.

Order Your Priorities

A key skill taught in most kinds of negotiation class is to work out exactly what your priorities are in advance of the meeting. Taking the time to think about and write down your outcome priorities means being clear-headed and focused during talks.

Sharing your ordered wants during meetings encourages the other participant to share their goals, too. Both participants can then share information by ordering both sets of priorities and seeing where these match up. Employing this technique can also help in the countering process, as you can make exchanges and compromises based on everyone’s wants.

Know When to Walk Away

Negotiation classes teach that before going into the meeting, it’s best to outline exactly what you’re ultimately looking to get out of the meeting. Often, it’s best to decide upon the lowest terms that you’re willing to agree upon. Having this term in your mind before you get into the room can help prevent you from agreeing to something in the heat of the moment that you wind up being unhappy with.

Make Your Offer First

Contrary to popular belief, the person with the upper hand in any negotiation is actually the person who makes the first offer. This skill is based on a psychological concept called “the anchoring principal,” whereby people are prone to putting too much emphasis on the first piece of information received. Essentially, the first figure put out is the figure that the rest of the counter-offers end up revolving around.

A useful skill to have when selling and making your first offer is to strike a balance by asking for a number above the reservation price of your buyer or seller, but not too high to scare them off.

Don’t Go Too Low Too Quickly

If you don’t get to be the person who makes the first offer, you should ensure to protect against anchoring by utilizing the above advice by looking at anchoring from the other perspective. You also don’t want to come back with an offer that’s too low. If your seller or buyer’s first offer is way off, counter with what you think is more in line with your ideas.

You should remember to counter based on the information you had before the first offer was made and not let the first offer sway what an acceptable counter-offer to make is for you.

In Conclusion

The best skills to guide discussions to a mutually beneficial outcome are often these lesser-known techniques from negotiation classes. Utilizing techniques that are less obvious puts you in a powerful position to steer talks in a way that favors both participants. In taking a class teaching negotiation skills, you can ensure that you have every chance of successfully achieving your best outcome.