idealmike
Level X3
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Top Tips to Being a Better Negotiator and Getting Better Deals
In the business world today, everything that happens is negotiated first. Negotiations and being a good negotiator, can either be useful in as simple as getting a day off work, or as large as closing a big deal. However you look at it, being a good negotiator can help you get ahead in life, get deals on things and either make or break you! So for anyone that wants to succeed in today's cut throat business world, it's important to master the art of negotiating! And since being a good negotiator can help you to succeed, and get good deals on things, here's some top negotiation tips to help you become a true negotiations expert! 
Speak With Confidence and Authority
Have you ever been in a situation where you've had to pitch something you didn't really know much about? But you managed to sound confident and like you knew what you was talking about? Provided you do speak with confidence and like you know what you're talking about, you're already half way there to being a good negotiator and people will put their trust and faith in you if you are confident and speak with authority. Even if you don't know what it is you're talking about! Obviously, it helps if you do, but your confident tone will help you wing and win your way through negotiations provided you don't stumble, err and hesitate!
Be Factual, Be Correct, Be Powerful!
While being confident when you talk about something can help, actually knowing about what it is you're talking about will really come in handy. And not just knowing about it, but actually stating facts about it. Knowledge is power after all and having the knowledge and facts about what it is you're trying to negotiate will make the other party feel much more confident in you. If you are going to be trying to close any deal, you should get as knowledgeable about it as possible. If you are able to state real proven facts about it, your speech will come across as much more reliable and harder to counter. Facts quite simply, are little nuggets of power!
Know What You Want From the Start
A good negotiator will know what it is they want from the start, before they even start negotiating. In fact, it's much easier to negotiate with someone if you know what it is you're looking for. The best negotiators will know what they want before they even start the negotiation process. But knowing what you want and knowing specifically what you want before the negotiations have taken place, and during, will help you keep focused on that no matter how complex or complicated things get when trying to negotiate a deal. Always focus on what you want with lazer like precision.
Wrap it in a Bow
A smart negotiator will be able to make anything look appealing and be able to wrap things up and present them in such a way as to make them look as appealing as possible. In other words, they can make deals seem enticing even if those deals are a little inappropriate or not even what the other party is looking for. What it really comes down to, is being able to make the other party think that the deal you're negotiating is best for both you and them.
Negotiating is Like Playing Chess
In many ways, negotiating is very much like playing a game of chess. To be a winner you'll need to think strategically and use a lot of logic to come up with and follow through with a plan of attack. When playing chess, I always think of what my opponents moves might be and what I might do if they do move there. In the same way when negotiating, you need to come up with a plan, you also need to have a plan A and possibly a plan B in case plan A goes awry. One good way of pre-determining your opponents moves in chess, or what their move might be in negotiations, is to ask yourself multiple questions about them first they might be likely to ask. The whole purpose of asking yourself these questions is to better understand what the most likely scenario to play out would be, for both parties.
Make it a Win Win for Both
The best thing about being an expert negotiator is that you can work out a deal that ends positively for both parties concerned. While only one party is going to get the better end of the deal and someone is always going to end up with the biggest piece of cake, it's not to say that the other guys aren't left without at least some dessert. Actually, a true negotiator guru will always close in a win-win for both parties and try to find an area that both parties are going to agree to and leave happily satisfied and shaking hands with a smile on their face.
Listen as Much as You Talk
Of course, being a good negotiator is all about having the gift of the gab and being a good talker. But it's also important to be a good listener too! It will make negotiating much easier if you listen to the other party in full instead of just piling on the words. Let them speak, listen to what they have to say, take it on board and get to understand what it is they really want and you'll find it's easier to get what you want when they know you have listened to them and understood what they are saying and why they are saying it.
Set a Deadline Target
Negotiating can lead to good things happening, but nobody wants to spend hours upon hours negotiating and not really getting anywhere. For that reason, it's good practice to set a clear deadline on when decisions will be made. That way, both parties know they have x amount of time to talk about deals and mergers and things, but also a time when they both should reach a decision. By setting a deadline for decisions to be made, it will help you to close deals faster and both parties concerned will be happier that it didn't take up the whole day!
Conclusion
In essence, being an expert negotiator is about trying to change the way that people look at what negotiating is. It doesn't have to be a long and boring process, and you shouldn't think of it as some contest or fight that you have to win as much as you should think of it as a joint problem solving solution. Thinking positively about negotiations and making the other party see things like this never hurts and there are much less risks involved and will make things go much smoother!
And that's some top tips on how to be a better negotiator!
Hope you'll like them and find them useful!
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TommyCarey
This will help when you're trying to be the authority. If you're in a negotiation, or even just a basic conversation, you don't want to ask someone a question you don't know the answer to. This is because if they do know the answer, they can say it, and you can say something like "That's true, but did you know (insert rebuttal here)" this way you're always on top of the conversation. This can be similar to your playing chess tips. You want to win, so if you can ask a question and they don't know it, you're already winning
The one thing about this is tricky, you can't just ask any question. You have to ask the questions that the potential client or investor is thinking of so that you can answer what they are already thinking about. If you just ask "Well, what's your budget for this?" then they will think you're just looking to get paid. Or if you ask "How long have you been in business?" this will just look like you haven't done your research. Even if you know the answers to both of these, they're not worth asking because they could lower your own credibility.
Don't brag about your previous ventures, sales, successful jobs, etc.
Talking about anything that doesn't have to do directly with the client or potential investor and why they contacted you will make it look like you're bragging. No one wants you to come to their office for a meeting about something involving them and hear you talk about the last client you worked for. Think of it as if you were talking to your current girlfriend about how attractive your ex-girlfriend is lol. They'll listen to you talk about it, but they won't call you back. And if you're talking to your girlfriend... You'll just get smacked
The only exception with this is if the client or investor asks you about your previous successful work in the same field. If they bring it up, then you can talk about it. If your girlfriend brings it up, your ex was part llama and you've never had a prettier partner until you met the one you're with now
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