The Critical Negotiation Skill Of Planning Effective Objectives For Your Business Negotiations.
A critical negotiation skill in your purchasing negotiations is how you go about deciding your objectives.
I would like to provide you with 3 critical points that we cover in our negotiation skills training workshops to think about when you are planning for your negotiations.
1. What is the absolutely ideal result for you in this negotiation?
What would a great 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 remember that it is vital in your negotiation to always ask for a little more than you would like to receive. This means that you should always have an aspiration base that is higher than your planned outcome. By asking for a little more than you would like to achieve you enable yourself to make a concession to your counterpart in exchange for a counter concession.
On the upside, you may just get what you regard to be ideal if you ask for it! Don't fall into the trap of making decisions on behalf of your counterpart by saying to yourself they will not be happy with that .Take note that I am not advocating 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 point 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 realistic or desirable for you to close a transaction, then you may become susceptible to closing a deal that you will not be happy with. This is critical to do as you could easily become emotionally committed to reaching agreement at any cost because you may think that your personal reputation is at stake.
3. What do you think are the aspirations and minimum acceptable agreement levels for your counterpart?
It is also critical that you contemplate the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels from your counterparts point of view. This will never be an exact science but through proper preparation and investigation of supporting information you may be able to get a good idea of what kind of deal is the standard in your industry or kind of negotiation.
By considering the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels from your counterparts viewpoint, you will be able to identify the agreement range. Being aware of the agreement range or zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) will help you to see if a deal is possible or not.
Most negotiation training programmes will teach you that the bargaining 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 most of your success in negotiation is dependent on the quality of your planning. You should spend at least as much time planning for negotiations as you expect to be busy negotiating. If you expect to be in negotiations for a day, then you should spend at least the same time in preparations.
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