Negotiation Tips Techniques & Strategy
Read our latest Newsletter
We are putting together a series of
negotiating skill tips to help give you an edge in your
negotiations. These negotiation tips build on the content of the
Scotwork Advanced Negotiating Skills Program and are first
published in our bi-monthly newsletter. To subscribe to our
newsletter, please click on the link on the right hand side of this
page. You may also find our Negotiator's Reading List a useful
additional resource. If it's been longer than 12 months since you
attended the Scotwork Program, contact our office to arrange to
attend one of our One-day refresher or Skills Builder
courses.
10 tips for
negotiating your salary
If you are like many of our
participants, you'll probably agree that your worst negotiating
nightmare is not managing a commercial deal, but negotiating your
own salary! Want to know why? Read more....
Podcast:
Negotiating - All skill, no ego
Are you an effective negotiator?
Some of the weakest negotiators are those who think they're good at
it. Often they believe that to win, the other party has to
lose.
Phil Dobbie from BNET Australia
interviews Simon Kelland (Managing Partner of Scotwork Austalia)
about how good negotiators can build stronger relationships and
better deals for all parties involved. Listen
here.
What is that
Smell?
There are two unpleasant smells
negotiators need to avoid. One is fear (your own) and the other is
excessive testosterone wafting from the other side of the table. A
colleague has called this "negotiating with an 800 pound
gorilla". Common examples are when you are dealing with a sole
source supplier, a key customer who knows it, a monopoly provider
or, in certain situations, your boss. This is the true test of your
negotiating skill. Read more...
Dealing with
Difficult People
One of the questions we often get
asked is "How do I negotiate when the other side are aggressive,
rude or just nasty?" We have 4 key tips that will help when the
going gets tough. Read more...
Be Specific and
You May Get a Trip to Paris
Good negotiators use an effective
ARGUE step in negotiations - asking good questions and listening
effectively. Often, some fall down when they are not being specific
when it comes down to what they want. Being specific will get you
more of what you want. Read
more...
Is it time to
try to Persuade or Negotiate?
We seem to kid ourselves that if we
keep telling the other person that they are wrong and we are right,
at some point they will miraculously change their mind, slap
themselves on the forehead, acknowledge our brilliance and agree to
see the world the way we do. It doesn't often happen though. Read more...
Close the
Deal
Negotiation is a trading process.
Look out for the opportunity to close the deal and it could make a
significant difference to any concessions you make. Read
more...
Be Careful Being
Mr Nice Guy
In every course, particularly in
the earliest live exercises we watch some participants demonstrate
good will by giving unconditionally to the other party. When asked
why they do this they reply that they believe that a good will
gesture / gift / flexibility sets up a co-operative atmosphere as a
first step to a "win-win" deal. However whenever I see
demonstrations of good will, I find myself saying "oops!" under my
breath. Read
more...
Negotiate Your
Way in a Changing Business Landscape
Negotiation has always mattered,
now it matters more. It's not news that the environment in which we
do business - and in which we negotiate our business goals - is
changing. Enjoy this article on 3 key characteristics to be a more
successful negotiator in an ever more complex environment. Read
more...
Are You
Negotiating or Haggling?
A common negotiation mistake made
by many sales people is believing that negotiation is about
persuading the other guy that he wants what you're offering and
then making some sort of concession in return for a contract.
There is a flaw in this logic - firstly, the term "negotiate" is
well overused. Often, when sales people say, "We're just
negotiating with the client" they actually mean, "We're just
haggling over the price." Haggling is not negotiating. Haggling
is... Read more...
Cultural
Diversity
Clients regularly ask us if we can
help their negotiators understand differences in negotiating
culture and style in societies other than their own. Our presence
in over 30 countries helps. Negotiators working 'abroad' often feel
disadvantaged because they don't know the subtleties of negotiating
behaviour.
Often the negotiating differences are a reflection of more common
societal differences. Here is one example of What Not to Do in a
business context, from each of the Scotwork offices around the
world. Read
more...
Do Women Give
Away More Than Men?
Here we are in 2010 , and the average weekly wage for a woman
working full time is on average 18 per cent less than the average
pay for men, putting the gap at the same level it was in 1972 . In
the last 12 months the pay gap grew by $7.90 per week, this means
women will have to work three days longer in 2010 than 2009 to
reach an equal pay packet. Why? Read
more...
The Great Mining
Super Tax Debate
Negotiation expert, Keith Stacey
reveals some important negotiation lessons learnt from the
Government's process of introducing the "Minerals Resource Rent
Tax". Read
more....
7 tips for
generating a killer wish list
Do you remember how we described
the wish list in the Scotwork Program? It's your hidden agenda and
should be an exercise in creative thinking, not wishful thinking.
The wish list represents variables which will add value, but aren't
essential to a deal. Read more....
5 tips for getting a better deal on your
next new car
Having recently purchased a new
car, it was interesting to confirm the results of the Scotwork
method on a transaction we're all familiar with. For those who like
to kick tyres, we've put together five tips for getting a better
deal on your next new car. Read more....
Don't put your foot in it - put their words
in your mouth!
It may sound slightly unhygienic but it is far better than
putting your foot in it! You may also find that you become a better
negotiator as a result.
Our ability to communicate defines us as a highly evolved
species. This ability has been fundamental to our evolution from
nomadic hunter gatherers to knowledge workers in cyberspace. In
fact, when you think of it the degree of planning, coordination and
execution necessary to successfully hunt a woolly mammoth while
avoiding being...Read more....
Negotiating, relationships and good manners
An arctic hunter has caught a
whale. Far more food than they or their family can possibly eat.
Where is the best place to store the surplus? You will have to read
the whole article to find the answer but it is a good place to
start to examine an apparent tension between building relationships
and making unilateral concessions (elk steaks). Read
more....
5 reasons your kids might be better negotiators than you
Ever notice how effective kids are
at getting what they want? We've compiled a list of the top five
negotiating skills we've all observed in everyday kids' behaviour
which they share with effective negotiators (and no, we don't mean
throwing their toys out of the pram...) Read more....
Game Theory
We are regularly asked to explain
how Game Theory relates to negoitating. In this article, Keith
Stacey explores Game Theory, which attempts to mathematically
capture behaviour in strategic situations where an individual's
success in making choices is dependent on the choices of others. Read
more...
When Negotiations Fail
Many books and articles describe
the techniques and strategies that facilitate the achievement of an
agreement in the negotiations, but little has been written about
the common reasons that prevent negotiators from achieving their
objectives. Read more....
What will you do differently in 2011?
As you recover from the festive
season, you'll probably decide to make a few New Year's
resolutions. We thought you might like to consider one of these
five as an option for your new year's resolutions for 2009, just in
case you're too hungover to make a good decision... Read
more.....
Ethical negotiating in tough
times
Every now and then, we get an
insightful call, comment or email from a client that illuminates
and reinforces important considerations for negotiators. I want to
share a good example here. Read more.....
Shortening the deal cycle - four simple
phrases that will save you time.....
Most people consider that the main
benefit of skilful negotiating is the improvement in the terms of
the agreements that you reach, but with most of us under intense
time pressure, sometimes the time you save in reaching agreements
and resolving conflicts can be just as important - Read
more....
Negotiating with
a strategic mindset - or "How to avoid becoming the turkey"!
For 999 days in a row, the average
American domestic turkey gets fed at breakfast, gets fed again in
the evening, and then sleeps soundly with a full belly. Sounds like
a great life, until on Thanksgiving morning the day doesn't quite
go to plan...Read more.....
The art of
negotiating with the Chinese - tips on cross-cultural
negotiating
In this article, Bill Chan from
Scotwork's Hong Kong office (covering Greater China and East Asia)
explores the cultural differences (and similarities!) between
Chinese and western styles, and provides some tips on negotiating
approaches to support more successful negotiated outcomes across
borders.. Read more.....
"It's not fair"
- but does it matter? What part does fairness play in
negotiating?
When it comes to negotiating in
long-term relationships, we think fairness, or indeed preceived
fairness, plays a big part in the value of the ongoing deal.
Why should that be? Clearly if one side benefits
substantially more than the other, but the other side also
benefits, just less, the deal still works for both sides. Read
more.....
Negotiate with
kids to get them to behave? We're all trying to do it, and
they are very good.
All I want for Christmas is a bit
of peace. But, as the father of 2 children, I suspect I have
about as much chance of this as snow falling on the Post Office
Tower! Christmas is a great time and I don't want to get all
Humbug, but boy do you need your wits about you as the holiday
season approaches. Kids and Christmas, like budgets and cuts,
go together and this year like no other in my memory I need to
manage the purse strings as my little ones are beginning their
relentless negotiation pressure. Read more......
Can you afford
to walk away; can you afford not to?
As consultants we regularly talk to
people on either side of the same negotiation and we often notice
that both sides view their position as uniquely negative or
disadvantaged. The conclusion being that generally there is scope
in most negotiations for us to feel more positive than we currently
do and more hopeful than we have previously been; perhaps we have
more power than we have to date assumed. Read
more...
Find out why Scotwork are
the world's leader in delivering negotiation skills
training.
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