bargaining tactics

What are Bargaining Tactics?

Negotiating effectively requires bargaining tactics that give you the ability change the game – moving away from conflict and toward collaboration.

Whether you are behind the bargaining table with a client or across the table with an opposing party, you need bargaining tactics that maximize the value of your negotiation.

People often think that distributive bargaining tactics require adversarial bargaining, such as making tough demands, threats, or bluffs. But in fact, the most effective strategies do not require you to sacrifice your integrity or resort to dirty tricks. Rather, they require you to set aside plenty of time before your negotiation to engage in clear-eyed preparation.

Collaboration or integrating across multiple issues to create new sources of value is the key here. In other words, a mutual gains approach.

A mutual gains approach to the bargaining table can help you not only achieve a negotiated agreement with a difficult counterpart but also help a negotiator find ways to create value and expand the pie of resources. Bargaining tactics that take this path help the negotiation process become a value-creating, integrative situation in which each side gets a “fair share” of the pool of resources.

No matter how much you try, though, a deal won’t always work out. That’s why it’s important to have a strong BATNA, or best alternative to a negotiated agreement.

When you are aware that you have an appealing alternative deal to the one you’re working on, you will be less tempted to accept an agreement that doesn’t meet your minimum requirements. A strong BATNA gives you the freedom to walk away from the table with no (or few) regrets.

To learn more bargaining tactics that can help you in business, download your FREE copy of Getting the Deal Done, from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

The following items are tagged bargaining tactics: