Negotiation is inevitable, in both business transactions and disputes. There are different kinds of negotiation strategies and tactics. Often negotiation requires adversarial and sometime problem-solving and win-win approaches. When business negotiators haggle over who gets how much of the pie, hard-bargaining strategy can lead to ruin. Sometimes business deals blow up, relationships fall apart and success is delayed. We at The Key Group see the following points are reasonable for optimum negotiation outcomes:
- Plan ahead. Define the problem and make good preparations.
- Build bridges instead of walls.
- Balance idealism, realism and cynicism.
- Create value and conducive environment.
- Build trust, maintain and keep relationships intact.
- Minimize distractions. Focus, listen with attentive attention, decode the underlying structure of the arguments, ask the right questions and answer questions.
- Express yourself, idea and your position with clarity, power and respect.
- Know when to rise your agenda, when to let it go, when to negotiate and when to give in.
- Do not underestimate your opponent. Critically explore their ideas, behaviours, position and personal stories.
- Stay balanced in the face of criticism, attack and accusation.
- Learn how to deal with moral, oxymoron, aggressive and obnoxious behavior.
- Don't get angry or defensive; keep your cool in the face of cursing and focus on the issue.
- Deescalate the tensions and change the game from conflict to collaboration.
- Disentangle intent from impact, and distinguish the good, the bad, the honest and dishonest.
- Improve communication, build easy conversation and move from negative emotion to productive problem solving.
- Try not to become greedy and win the biggest piece of the pie but make the pie bigger, and enlarge the scope of interests and make it fair.
- Avoid ultimatums and embrace cooperation; innovation, creativity, moral and ethical values.
Overall, negotiation is both art and science. Negotiation is a spectacular craft; but also, is complex, confusing and sometimes frustrating and even daunting. Business negotiators are constantly bombarded with ideas and the latest fads promising the magic bullet for winning the best deals. There is no one strategy or one-size-fits-all kinds of negotiations. The best negotiation strategy is to engage in productive win-win collaboration that is acceptable for all parties. To dominate or bully your interlocutor into submission would be a step in the wrong direction and leads to negotiation disaster. Hard-bargaining tactics can ruin the deal. Too often, deals blow up, differences don't settle, relationships fall apart, business is delayed.
We at The Key Group see that the best negotiation strategy is the one that moves above and beyond adversarial, positioning or game playing. As a result, our negotiation ideas and applications are unique. We provide innovative, creative and successful win-win negotiation approaches. Our strategies provide beneficial outcome, enlarge the scope of the interests, minimizes costs, and leave all parties better off. We know how to manage tough negotiations with less stress and more success. We know how to turn disputes into deals, and deals into better deals.