Monday, October 05, 2009

Seven rules for successful negotiations

1. Understand who you negotiate with. Call it empathy. There’s no substitute for understanding the other side of the negotiation. What do they really want?

2. Find the win-win. Either both parties lose or both parties win. Find out what they need to win and you may win as well. So look for that in every negotiation.

3. Everything is negotiable. Don’t narrow a negotiation down to just one issue. Develop as many negotiable deal points as may apply and give the other party options.

4. Be honest and fair. One uncovered lie will destroy the negotiation. You may not like the other party, but there must be trust to complete a negotiation.

5. Use the power of competition. What are your alternative options if you don’t reach a deal and how will that affect you and the other party?

6. Humans don’t appreciate what they don’t have to fight for. The longer the negotiation, the more each party have invested in finding a solution.

7. Be prepared to walk away. If you are wedded to the thought of reaching a deal you will lose. Prepare an exit strategy.

1 comment:

Lothar Schröder said...

Hi Peter,

I agree with you on most points, but not everything is negotiable.If you have lost a loved one because a drug company has concealed the side effect of a drug for more than ten years, then you want something to change and that patients will be informed better in future about all side effects of the drug so that they can make their own choises. This is not negotiable.
I am in a legal dispute with Pfizer in Germany on the drug Zoloft.

regards, Lothar