What techniques do we have to maintain when negotiating?

Especially in negotiation you have to think a solution which should be beneficial to all the parties i.e a win-win situation or solution. Thanks.

I   attended a special course in negtiation in Paris in July 2009 and the most important techniques shall be as follows:

 

1- Get prepared. You need to put your fingers around the entire process of the issue/claim/purchase you are going to discuss. Get ready for any potential question. You have to know the market price, benchamarking prices, competitors prices and the other options you have in case the negotiation fails.

2- Win-Win principle should be the basic for any negotiation because no business will be fair if both parties don't feel that they cancontinue making business profitably.

 

3- You have to build a strtategy to draw the other party to the area where you can achieve your goals more comfortably. Be aware of what you are asking for and what you actually want.

 

4- You need to know the background, the culture and the habits of the other party to run a sophisticated negotiation  without gaps or misunderstandings.

5- Think of the impact of the negotiation goals on the business continuity and furture business relations . You need to be far sighted buyer insteadof focusing on a quick profit that may or may not obtained during a negotiation session.

 

6- Be cool, smiling and easy to deal with and at the same time a difficult horse to ride on!

 

Negotiation theory and techniques are such wide areas it is impossible to give a short answer to this question. However, I will give it a go by saying you need to:

- have a real knack for reading people, which is a natural talent that can be honed in practice

- you have to know thyself and be in control of your reactions at all times

- you need to prepare for negotiations by knowing your side of the table real well (best case, worst case and all tradables in detail!) as well as your partner's or oponent's (their situation, how desperate they are to get the deal, what is it they want, what is it they are willing to give up on)

- and then, sometimes you have to abandon all you have thought you would do, and just go with the "feeling". Of course, the toughest thing to do is knowing when and if that moment comes. This is where reading people comes real handy.

- caveat no1: most times your "oponent", your "dancing partner", person you negotiate with is a honest decent human being trying to make a living. Recognize that, treat him / her accordingly and be honest and open. It might pay in the form of lifelong friendship and partnership

- caveat no2: be nice. Although most people see negotiations as "war to entinction" (movies don't help there), being nice is best strategy. There is always time to go to war. However, there is not coming back to nice once in war.

Hope this helps.

jasmina 

Agreed with above comments, however it also depends on your co business relations with supplier co.

In negotiation, don't show to a certain vendors that he/she is your top and last last option otherwise it would be difficult for you to reach or maintain within the project budget. 

check thoroughly before negotiation who meets your requirement and able to establish milestone achievement.

Very short and simple

Don't lie without exposing the truth. 

Screw in vendors mind (without offending) if he doesn't meet your requirement in terms of price/quality/payment etc you have other alternatives. 

 

Following are some of the things to be looked upon while negotiation; 1. Proper study for calculating tentative costs through various techniques such as ZBC, understanding material/ service to be procured. 2. Your budget/ target cost. 3. Looking trends in local market. 4. Transparent negotiation with proper breakup. 5. Self confidence and positive mindset.