How to Win Any Negotiation: Get What You Deserve
“Your income right now is a result of your standards; it is not the industry, it is not the economy.” – Tony Robbins
Do you play it safe in negotiations? What if I told you that you could earn 1.5 times as much if you had negotiated well in the past? Quite a bummer, right? Use this frustration as a lesson for the future and for heaven’s sake, read this article to win any negotiation or almost any.
Few people know the true value of negotiations. Whether you run a business, have a job, or even if you have kids – at some point, you’ll have to negotiate. But most people never prepare for this game. They focus on building work-related skills and believe that’s the only way to earn more. Being more skilled will give dividends, but your negotiation skills will increase those dividends by fifty percent or even more.
Think for a second. How would you feel if you earned 30-50 percent more money, by simply mastering negotiations?
Here is the step-by-step method to win any negotiation:
1. Find Their Needs
You cannot ignore this principle. In any business transaction, or even personal, the better you fulfill your client’s needs, the more you will get out of the relationship – be it goodwill or a financial return. As simple as it sounds, this is the key to win any negotiation.
Ramit Sethi calls this strategy the briefcase technique. In this technique, when you start negotiating, pull out a proposal from your briefcase. This proposal lists all the business problems that your client is facing, along with your proposed solutions for them.
Keep this proposal between 2-5 pages and depict your contribution to their business with graphs and visuals. Ask yourself, “If I were in my client’s shoes, what solutions would really interest me?” The aim here is to create an outstanding image of your contribution to the company.
2. Know More Than Them
Marketing mogul Neil Patel says that to win any negotiation, the magic bullet is preparation. When you know more than the other person, you can steer the conversation. You are the one in control.
So a deep research about your client’s needs, problems and possible solutions will do wonders. If you have a job, find out what your job is worth from websites like glassdoor.com and indeed.com.
3. Reject Then Retreat
When it’s time to give a quote, don’t ask for the average or median pay possible. Always ask for more. In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini mentions the Reject Then Retreat strategy. In this strategy, first you ask for a higher price and then when the other person rejects it, you retreat and ask for a smaller price.
As a result, the other person thinks that they have the upper hand. The trick is to let them enjoy this illusion of power. However, if you’re dealing with a seasoned negotiator, they will sense that something is fishy. But don’t fret. We’ll tell you how to play your game at the next level.
4. An Offer They Can’t Refuse
By now, you have learnt the basics of how to win any negotiation. But even if you get everything right, there’s one more thing you can’t afford to miss.
You should put a timer on your proposed solutions to invoke a sense of urgency. For example, “Setting up this new system will take three days and it will increase sales by 2x within one month. If we start next Monday, we should see the results by the end of the month.”
Don’t take no for an answer. After you present all the solutions to their needs and problems, you should end with a question that cannot be answered with a no.
For example, “With my contribution, the profits will increase by 2x in one month. Do you want it?” Or “Should I start with interface change or user stories first? The first generates 40% more profits within one month and the second generates 50% more within 20 days.” This is a win-win situation for them, so they won’t say no.
Bonus tip: You can even negotiate additional benefits such as paid training, paid commute or flexible work hours.
Simple Steps to Negotiation
1. Find your client’s needs: Find what will help their business and present solutions to these pain points.
2. Know more than them: Research key problems and the impact of your proposed solutions.
3. Reject then retreat: Make a higher demand first and then go for a lower one.
4. Make an offer they can’t refuse: Put a timer on your solutions and ask questions that cannot be answered with a no.