Business Without the Bullsh*t: 49 Secrets and Shortcuts You Need to Know (27 page)

No need to get fancy: just be certain the question is open-ended rather than something that can be answered with a single word. The
idea is to get a conversation started, so you can ask for an appointment to pursue the matter further, outside the context of the crowd.

Based on the other person’s response to your query, you’ll know whether it makes sense to pursue the relationship. If there
is
a match between what you’re offering and what the other person needs, set up a meeting to discuss the matter further:

If the other person agrees, trade your contact information (if this has not happened already) and make a note of the commitment so you can follow up later.

Note that the entire process takes just a few minutes and has two “exit points” to ensure you’re not barking up the wrong tree. The brevity of the approach makes it easy for you to “work a room” and uncover as many potential contacts as possible.

Negotiation consists of a back-and-forth conversation in which multiple potential decisions are proposed and discussed and a final decision agreed upon. Many negotiations are informal, but they follow the same principles as the formal negotiations described below.

Negotiations take place everywhere in business; your ability to negotiate will in many cases determine whether you’ll be able to get what you want from bosses, coworkers, and customers.

Before you negotiate, think through what’s really being negotiated.

Every business negotiation involves two elements: what’s off the table and what’s on the table. In addition, everything that’s on the table has a maximum (the best you can expect) and a minimum (the least you’ll accept).

Any part of a potential deal about which you have no flexibility whatsoever is, by definition, off the table. For example, if you’re negotiating a new job but not willing to relocate, relocation is off the table.

For everything that’s on the table (i.e., negotiable), figure out what the
best you can expect
and the
least you will accept
are. For example, if
you’re negotiating a salary, your sweetheart deal might be $150,000 a year and your bare minimum $75,000.

Do not negotiate until you’ve ranked the items identified in Step 1 in order of importance to you and possible importance to the other person. Use a scale of 1 (very important) to 3 (unimportant).

For example, if you’re negotiating to hire someone, you might not really care what job title the job candidate ends up with, but it may be of great importance to the new hire. Or vice versa.

You’ll be adjusting your imagined ranking for the other person as you learn more throughout the negotiation. It’s possible that you’ll adjust your own ranking too, if the other person brings up some compelling arguments.

Find a reason your maximums and minimums make business sense to the other person. Usually these two points will have very different arguments behind them.

For example, suppose you expect to be paid more than other people with your education level and experience. To defend your higher salary, you might point out that you’ve got specialized knowledge that increases your value to the company.

On the other hand, suppose you’re offered a job title that has less prestige than you expected. Your argument in this case might be “I may find it hard to do my job with a title that implies I have insufficient authority.”

You’re at a negotiating disadvantage if you
must
close a deal and the other person only
wants
to close a deal.

For example, suppose you’re trying to negotiate a final contract,
and if it doesn’t go through today you’ll lose your job and default on your loans. Meanwhile your counterpart has no particular reason to complete the negotiations quickly. Under these circumstances you’ll probably make any concession your counterpart asks for!

That’s why, if at all possible, you’ve got to have a plan B. For example, if you’re in the process of negotiating the specifics for a job that you’ve been offered, you should keep looking for another and even have other interviews lined up.

Keep your plan B (and your importance ranking, for that matter) from the other person. Though you might end up blurting out your plan B as a last-ditch effort, the plan is mostly to keep you from feeling desperate, and then acting from that place of desperation.

It’s almost always to your advantage to let the other person start the negotiation process. For example, I have more than once been offered compensation for my writing that was several times what I would have asked for had I gone first.

If you get trapped into going first, present something around your maximum (for some element that’s important to you), along with your argument for why it’s reasonable. Be sure to leave some wiggle room for further negotiation.

When you use expressions such as “my position is” or “my firm’s position is,” you’re taking ownership of a position. This makes the position part of your identity, which makes it difficult to change or abandon it.

Rather than owning a position, externalize it into a problem that both of you are working to solve. For example: “If we crafted the arrangement like so, [idea], it would work for me. How would that work for you?”

The aim is to turn the negotiation into a problem-solving session in which you help each other figure out how to go forward… rather than butt heads.

In Step 2 you ranked what’s important to you and to the other person. During the negotiation process, your goal is to remain flexible in order to stay true to the things that matter to you.

For example, suppose you’re selling a complex software system and know that your installation team is idle right now. It’s important for you to get the team working (and generating money) as soon as possible.

During the discussion you discover that it’s important to the customer that he or she get the project started quickly. It should therefore be advantageous to both of you to cut the deal quickly and get everything rolling immediately.

Even when you enter negotiations with the best of intentions, it’s fair to assume that at some level your counterpart wants to see you “lose” at least something. However, a part of you probably feels the same way about him or her.

So don’t take it personally if your counterpart assumes negotiating positions that don’t make much sense to you. Instead, let your counterpart
know that every concession is meaningful and that holding out will
not
result in big rewards.

If the negotiation is going well and you’ve got most of what you want, don’t keep negotiating. If you’re 90 percent there, you’re done. Negotiating past this point generates diminishing returns.