Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator

Claim your free copy from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Comment

Prepare to Win Even the Toughest Negotiations

Dear Business Professional,

Sam’s story says a lot about effective negotiation techniques and problem solving. Here’s how he tells it:

As the Chief Operating Officer of an American cell phone case manufacturer, I’m intimately familiar with all the in’s and out’s of factory operations.

On this day, like usual, the factory floor was abuzz with the whirring of machinery. But when I walked in, I noticed that something was different. To my immediate left, I saw a sea of broken phone cases in a pile on the floor.

And there – in the middle of the mess – stood the Chief Engineer and the Factory Foreman who appeared to be having a heated discussion.

I stepped in and asked what the problem was.

The foreman explained that a specific part was being produced incorrectly. This created flawed cases that had to be rejected because of the imperfections and later fixed by hand.

This was resulting in overtime hours, greater expense, and not surprisingly, major stress.

The foreman believed the issue was caused by a product design error, so naturally, he wanted the engineering department to fix the problem. He also wanted any overtime expenses to come out of the engineering department budget.

However, the engineer squarely placed the blame on a piece of machinery that he believed to be in disrepair.

They tried to work it out, but they were at an impasse. And they were looking to me for help.

Thankfully, just the week before I had come across a free special report from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Within the pages of Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator I discovered negotiation tactics to help me solve problems, ease tensions, and build consensus in the workplace and at the bargaining table.

Specifically, I learned how to:

• Reinterpret a demand or ultimatum – Instead of taking a “take it or leave it” attitude, advocate for a “put our heads together” negotiation

• Prepare for talks – Assess each side’s interests and no-deal options, imagine possible agreements, and think about moves and countermoves

• Address the underlying concern – Honestly address the concern behind a difficult situation

• Acknowledge and reframe – After acknowledging a question, reframe it in reciprocal terms, and shift to a more positive focus

• Brainstorm and decide – By brainstorming, you can often find unexpected solutions to difficult negotiations

• Manage wins and losses – Research shows that people prefer to hear good news in stages rather than all at once; however, they prefer to hear bad news in one fell swoop

With all of this in mind, I set up a meeting with the engineer and the foreman for later in the week. I knew that to negotiate a solution, we all needed to truly understand the nature of the problem at hand.

And by working together, we could get to the bottom of it.

After a careful examination, we confirmed that there was a minor design flaw. I negotiated an agreement with the engineer whereby he would stop work on a different project so that his team could focus on retooling the case design immediately. And in the meantime, the foreman acknowledged that his employees did have some free time to fix the flawed cases; therefore, mitigating the overtime expenses.

After all was said and done, they shook hands and went back to work.

I thought to myself, “If only all negotiations could resolve themselves so smoothly?” And then I remembered that with the right negotiation techniques, they can.

Sam’s success story is one we’ve heard time and again at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Students who master business negotiation techniques become better leaders. But it starts with building the right skills. And that’s where our latest free report comes in.

In Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, you’ll learn:

• How setting a challenging goal can prompt negotiators to work harder than more modest goals

• How to be prepared for the hardest questions – those you don’t want to answer

• How to translate your knowledge of classroom negotiation into real-world skills

• Ways to improve your hard-bargaining performance by joining a coalition, escalating as needed, and taking advantage of deadlines

• How to create a circle of value by finding ways to satisfy as many shared and differing interests as possible

• How to consciously practice your newfound negotiation skills and negotiation body language in the office (and at home)

• How to defuse negotiation anxiety by reframing it as excitement and focusing on opportunities

• How to turn an ultimatum into a constructive opportunity for negotiation

This fast-reading report – Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator – will also prepare you to answer some of the toughest negotiation questions like:

• “This is my final offer. Take it or leave it. I need your answer right now. What’ll it be?”

• “Why do you really want to sell this business [or car, house, etc.]? Are you aware of anything that could reduce its value in the near future?”

• “What are your minimum compensation requirements?”

• “Aren’t you too inexperienced for us to risk giving you this contract?”

Don’t know the answers to these questions? You need this special report.

By preparing for a negotiation and anticipating your answers before you’re confronted with a challenging question, you can avoid a costly mistake.

Get the Most Out of Your Negotiation Training

Have you already taken some negotiation training? If you’re like many people, you may have taken a class or read a book about negotiation. But the hardest part can be translating your “book knowledge” to the “real world.”

With this free report, you can gain the strategies you need to apply your new negotiation skills successfully. For example:

1. Be ready to make mistakes – Negotiation training can be a humbling experience. By embracing your “needs improvement” areas, you can get on the path to becoming a better negotiator.

2. Take a proactive approach – Beyond taking notes, think about how negotiation concepts apply to your own negotiations. By making your learning “real,” you can better apply it outside the classroom.

3. Practice your new skills – It’s true, practice makes perfect. Don’t assume that because you’ve read it in a book, that it will naturally become part of your negotiation skill set. By actively applying new strategies – even if it’s just with your friends and family – you’ll be better able to put your new skills to work when you need them the most.

Stand Up to a Hard Bargainer

We’ve all faced them before: the toughest negotiators in the room. They’re the ones who make others want to retreat from the bargaining table and head back to their corner offices. But you can be prepared for hard bargainers with Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator.

You’ll learn how to:

• Join a coalition – Yes, there is strength in numbers. By negotiating as a group, you can gain numerous benefits and greater bargaining power.

• Escalate prudently – By taking the negotiation to the next level, you can gain attention…and potentially the upper hand.

• Take advantage of deadlines – You can even manufacture a deadline to jump-start stalled negotiations.

• Combat negotiation anxiety – When you’re up against a hard bargainer, it’s normal to feel nervous. But you can learn to manage any anxiety and achieve better outcomes.

Master Business Negotiation with this Free Special Report

Curated from several articles, this report contains the most important, most relevant information you need to negotiate the best outcomes for you and your company. The tools, the strategies, the knowledge, and simply everything you need to become a better negotiator are yours in this free special report.

I urge you to download your complimentary copy of Negotiation Skills: Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator, right now. Simply click the button below.

I promise – it’s well worth your time.

With my sincere best wishes for your business negotiation success.

Sincerely,

Gail Odeneal
Director of Marketing
Program on Negotiation
Harvard Law School

P.S. Are you ready for what your next negotiation will hold?

Hard bargainers, tough questions, or unexpected nerves – combat them all with this special report.

In business, negotiation skills aren’t just “nice to have.” They’re essential. Sharpen yours today by downloading your free copy of Negotiation Strategies and Negotiation Techniques to Help You Become a Better Negotiator. Here’s how: