Negotiation, a word that you either love or loathe. Whatever your negotiation style I’m going to teach you how to negotiate a deal.
- Establish rapport. People who are similar tend to like each other (mirror & Match)
- Physiology
- Tone of voice
- Representational system ( Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic, Auditory Digital)
- Ask Discovery questions to find out the key rep. system. Discover the motivation, decision and motivation, reassurance strategies
- Establish a need. What’s the value proposition- what value can the other party bring to the table
- Link the value to the product or service– Get an agreement frame
- Close– Assume sale goes through, alternative choice
The Unconcious Mind
When negotiating most people link their conscious mind to their unconscious
How does the unconscious mind work?
- We store memories
- We use our emotions when we retrieve memories
- It runs the body with a blue print – personality, reaction to situations
- Prefers known outcomes such as following clear instructions
- Receives and transmits information to the conscious mind
- Generates ideas and transmits energy
- Maintains and generates habits
- Likes repetition until a habit is installed
- Takes everything as being personal
- Works on the principle of least effort
Rapport
First impressions:
7% Words (rapport can be improved by using words in their own language)
38% Tonality (voice, pitch, speed, quality, loudness)
55% Physiology (posture, gesture, facial expression, breathing)
Rep Systems
| Representational System | Description |
| Visual | Memories by seeing pictures and are less distracted by noise, Often have trouble remembering and are bored by long verbal instructions because their mind may wander. Interested in how the project looks |
| Auditory | Typically are distracted by noise, They can repeat things back to you easily and learn easily by listening. They like music and to talk on the phone. Tone of voice and words are important |
| Kinaesthetic | Often talk slowly and breathy response to physical rewards and touching. Memorise by doing or walking through something. Interested in a program that feels right or gut feeling |
| Auditory Digital | Spend a fair amount of time talking to themselves, Memorise by steps and procedures and sequences, They want to know the project makes sense. They can also exhibit characteristics of other rep systems. |
Eye Pattern (refresh page if PDF google doc has not loaded)
Influencing
| Concessions Upper Limit | Concessions Lower Limit |
| [insert] | [insert] |
Identify issues and best alternative
| Negotiator | Agreed Negotiation points [insert below] |
| Areas of Agreement | |
| Make mental note of body language and rep system | |
| State issues to be resolved | |
| Probe for outcomes in disagreements | |
| Reminder shared interest | |
| Develop options | |
| Get agreement on best options | |
Tactics
- Do not respond to a proposal with a counterproposal
Restate, validate, clarify and probe
- Invent options for mutual gain
- Avoid attack/ defence exchanges
- Avoid judgements
- Separate intent from behaviour
- Label ‘suggestions’ and ‘questions’ Let me offer a suggestion or I’d like to ask a question
- Make yourself agreeable, i.e. I’m having trouble understanding rather than you don’t make sense
State your reasons
1) Reason
2) Explanation
3) Proposal
Handling Objections
- If they ignore the objection and pretend it never came up, make sure its added back to the discussion.
- Restate your expectations, and clarify the value of what you are negotiating
- If objections are not resolved after 5 minutes go onto other issues
- Make sure that the people at the meeting have the power to make decisions
- Watch out for “If” what would happen “if”
- Watch out for conditional close if I X will you Y
Anchoring
Do you suffer from cognitive bias? Anchoring is taking the first piece of information and framing all subsequent negotiations around it thereafter. When negotiating we may become fixated on a certain fee which kick starts the conversation and then we find it difficult to move from this fixed sum. This has become the anchor because we are fixated on one thing, however other than price there may be other relevant things up for discussion.
Economists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman first documented the anchoring bias in an experiment involving a roulette wheel marked with integers ranging from 0 to 100. Each participant witnessed a spin of the roulette wheel. They were then asked whether they thought that the percentage of United Nations member countries that was from Africa was greater or smaller than the number spun on the wheel. Next, they were asked to make an estimation of the true percentage.
Participants who saw the wheel stop on the number 10 guessed, on average, that the actual percentage of African countries belonging to the United Nations was 25%. By contrast, those who saw the wheel stop on the number 65 guessed, on average, that the percentage from Africa was 45%. In the experiment, a clearly random number nonetheless had a dramatic impact on people’s judgments.
Making the first offer
Setting a specific goals means you are more likely to achieve what you want when compared to setting vague goals. Bear in mind that if the goal is to highly unrealistic you may be disadvantaged through failure to attain the goal .
Get the most of anchoring bias by making the first offer. Often this is favour of the person making the first move. Whether if the offer is accepted should be based on the zone of possible agreement. (ZOPA) If the other party has superior knowledge about the ZOPA, they have the advantage. If both parties are aware of each other’s ZOPA then making use of the anchor is less effective.
If both parties are starting from a blank sheet it may be able to derive additional advantage by dropping a 2nd anchor. An aggressive first anchor works well when you are confident about obtaining the outcome you desire based on what you already know. You can use this anchor to your advantage for the rest of the negotiations.
Assuming both parties knows about value of anchoring how do we proceed?
If you are aware that you are being anchored then the first move advantage is neutralised. Don’t jump to a counter offer straight away before you explain why the opening offer is unacceptable.
Collapse the anchor by being confident in your reasoning and explain clearly why this isn’t a game of tennis to bounce the price into the right place. You need to collapse the anchor by detracting the opening price as a potential bargaining zone.
Once the anchor is collapsed you can make your counter offer. This move needs to be done swiftly. A counter offer should be reasonable therefore explain why you are making such an offer.
Share information Be the first to share information. The other party will normally reciprocate. In general, you should feel comfortable revealing information about your interests in the negotiation. You can share regulatory requirements, requirements that need damage control and readily available.
The Art of Negotiation is when you understand people’s representational systems you are more likely to influence them.
Art of negotiation-Visual People
Visual people memorise by seeing pictures and are less distracted by noise. Often they have trouble remembering and are bored by long verbal instructions because their mind wanders. They are interested in how the outcome looks.
- I see
- Let me look at it first
- What’s your view
- It appears
- It suddenly dawn on me
- Let me reveal
- I can’t envision it
- Let me illuminate
- It’s very clear
- It’s a bit foggy
- You need to be more focused
- It’s a bit hazy
- Crystal clear
- Let me picture the outcome
Art of negotiation -Auditory People
Auditory people are typically distracted by noise. They can repeat things back to you easily and learn by listening. They like music and like to talk on the phone. The tone of voice and the words used can be important.
- I hear what your saying
- Listen to me
- Sounds like a good idea
- Make music today
- Harmonise the situation
- Tune in/Tune out
- Be all ears
- It rings a bell
- Silence is preferred
- I want to be heard
- I can’t resonate
- Are you deaf
- An unusual degree of dissonance
- Question your proposal
- Unhearing stakeholders
Art of negotiation -Kinaesthetic People
Kinaesthetic people often talk slowly and you can hear them breathe when they talk. They respond to physical rewards and touching. They memorise by doing or walking through something. They will be interested in a project that feels right or gives them a gut feeling.
- I feel great
- Let touch base
- Good grasp of facts
- Get hold of that report
- Slip through procurement
- It might catch on
- Tap into resources
- Make contact
- Throw out
- Turn around failing unit
- Hard work
- Unfeeling colleague
- Concrete workforce
- Scrape through
- Get a handle
- Solid as a brick
Art of negotiation -Auditory Digital
Auditory Digital people spend a fair amount of time talking to themselves, They memorise by steps, procedures and sequences. They will want to know that the project makes sense. They can sometimes also exhibit characteristics of the other representational systems.
- Sense
- Experience
- Think
- learn
- Process
- Decide
- Motivate
- Consider
- Change
- Perceive
- Insensitive
- Distinct
- Conceive
- Know
Consider the following:
Talking
- The person groups words
- Deliberately uses phrases
- Likes to interrupt
- Uses long complicated sentences
Processing patterns
- Quickly with a minimum of detail
- Will let you know unconsciously when they understand by changing the subject
- Prefers extensive detail
- Will not give an indication that they understand or know the answer unless you ask
Decision making
- Abstract
- Speculate, takes risk
- Likes specifics
- Willing to invest
Tone of voice for closing a negotiation
- Slightly fast and excited
- Thoughtful, considerate and slow
You might like NLP and negotiation
This article is inspired by Harvard Programme on Negotiation
You might also like my other post on negotiation Tactics
or a Quick Guide to Negotiation
and finally A Negotiation Plan
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