The Essential Negotiation Skill Of Determining Efficient Objectives For Your Negotiations.
A critical negotiation skill in your purchasing negotiations is how you go about deciding your objectives.
I want to provide you with 3 key points that we cover in our negotiation skills training workshops to think about when you are preparing for your negotiations.
1. What is the absolutely ideal result for you in this negotiation?
What would a great agreement (one that you would be extremely happy to agree to) look like?
We call this your aspiration base - in other words, the level at which you will aspire to close the agreement.
You should know that it is important in your negotiation to always ask for a little more than you would like to receive. This means that you must always have an aspiration base that is higher than your planned outcome. By asking for a little more than you would like to receive you enable yourself to make a concession to your counterpart in return for a counter concession.
On the positive side, 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 never go for that .Take note that I am not suggesting that you make extreme demands - extreme demands are very 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 terminate or suspend your discussions?
If you do not decide on a specific point at which it will no longer be realistic or attractive for you to close a transaction, then you may become vulnerable to reaching an agreement that you will not be happy with. This is vital to do as you could easily become emotionally committed to closing a transaction at all cost because you may think that your individual reputation is at stake.
3. What do you think are the aspirations and minimum acceptable transaction levels for your counterpart?
It is also important that you think about the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels from your counterparts viewpoint. This will never be an exact science but through proper planning and investigation of supporting information you may be able to get a good idea of what kind of deal is the standard in your line of business or type of negotiation.
By thinking about the aspirations and minimum acceptable transaction levels from your counterparts point of view, you will be able to identify the agreement range. Being aware of the bargaining range or zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) will help you to see if a deal is possible or not.
Most negotiation training workshops will teach you that the agreement 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 99 percent 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 an hour, then you should spend at least the same time in preparations.
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