Blog: The Negotiation Edge

In an ideal world, negotiation would be easy, tensions wouldn’t exist, and we’d all get along at the table just fine.

But reality paints a different picture, and crisis negotiations rear their ugly head sooner or later. Think about how many people have had to sit down at the table to figure out how to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past several weeks.

Though crisis negotiations are inevitable, you can avoid making critical mistakes if you have the right approach. 

With that in mind, here are four common crisis negotiation mistakes—and what you can do to find the better way forward.

Nonverbal cues and body language play a crucial role in negotiations. For example, many of us nod our heads yes to show the other side we agree with what they’re saying, and we shake our heads no to get the other side to pause and reflect.

For many of us, thinking about body language stops here. But the more conscious you are about using body language as a tool in negotiations, the more effective your efforts will be.

Here’s one body language negotiation technique to try next time you find yourself at the table: Lean forward toward your counterpart and turn your head to show them that you are trying to listen more intently by facing your ear in their direction. 

There’s a fundamental mindset problem with trying to gain negotiation leverage: You’re trying to take advantage of the other side or the situation at hand to the detriment of your counterparts.

The reality is that the other side can feel it when you’re trying to leverage your position. It’s very apparent. No matter how slick you think you are, it’s no secret. The other side will always pick up on the fact that you’re trying to use leverage on them, and they won’t like it.

Do you really think people are going to be happy working with you knowing that you’re trying to take advantage of where they’re sitting?

In an ideal world, closing deals would be easy. 

And with the right approach, it sometimes is.

Before sitting down at the table next time, take these five negotiation steps to increase the chances you get the outcomes you’re aiming for.

No matter how good a negotiator you are, you can always be better. What it all boils down to is that everyone can continuously improve their negotiation skills at any time, becoming more influential and persuasive along the way.  Being influential through the use of tactical empathy does not stop once you are out of a “business environment.

If your goal is to become better at negotiation—or you want to develop a team of expert negotiators—you may want to consider investing in negotiation training in 2020 and beyond.

Whenever you interact with someone—whether it’s over email, on the phone, or face to face—they tend to remember two things about your encounter:

1. The most intense moment of the conversation
2. The last moment of the conversation

That said, different mediums of communication lend themselves better to different negotiation tactics. By letting those two ideas guide your negotiations and coupling them with medium-specific negotiation tools, you can become a more persuasive negotiator in any scenario.

You may not think that it’s easy to get the other side to bid against themselves. But you’d be wrong.

When you’re selling something, there’s a price point you have in mind. At the same time, your counterpart has their own general motivations when they come to the table. They have their own number in mind—or at least a range of numbers in mind—for what they’re willing to spend. And that’s what they’re focusing on.

If you want to get your counterpart to bid against themselves, you need to keep one thing in mind: The interaction is not about you—it’s about them.

At Black Swan, we have a handful of negotiation terms that you’ve likely heard us say over and over again. Why? We are not in the business of reinforcing things that don’t affect your ability to influence your bottom line.

You’ve read the book. You keep tabs on our blog. Now, in an effort to sharpen your negotiation skills even further, you’re thinking about attending one of our live events. But maybe you don’t know what to expect—which is why you should continue reading. 

As American novelist Kurt Vonnegut wrote, it takes all kinds of people to make up a world.