How to prepare for a negotiation

If you’ve ever come out of a discussion and thought to yourself “why did I agree to that?” or “why did I not argue that point?”, give some thought as to why. Were you too nervous or intimidated? Were you too concerned about upsetting the other person? Or did you perhaps get side tracked and miss out on the opportunity to put forward your opinions? We’ve all been there, but how can we ensure that we take a more positive approach in the future? How can we be more persuasive? Well, understanding the key factors that can impact negotiation, including strategies that can help you to succeed, can make a real difference. And this doesn’t just apply to professional negotiations. 

Set the scene

Always consider whether it might be better to carry out a negotiation face to face (or Zoom to Zoom), rather than via written communication. Sometimes tone may come across in unanticipated ways via email, slack and WhatsApp, and this can cause things to escalate unnecessarily. In addition, try to schedule a negotiation when you know everyone involved will have enough time to properly discuss the issues. Time pressure can contribute towards a more stressful and emotional atmosphere, but a relaxed atmosphere can be more conducive to productive discussions.

Do your research

Do your homework. If you demonstrate a lack of knowledge around whatever it is you are negotiating, the other side might see this as a sign of weakness and try to exploit it. Or you might get confused and lose sight of what’s important. 

If you’re negotiating the acquisition of a business, make sure you have thought about the key risks that need to be dealt with. If you’re negotiating a salary, be sure to look into market rates in that industry. If you’re negotiating the purchase of supplies, research into the rates charged by other suppliers, and ensure you’re aware of any aspects of the current suppliers’ offering that might justify a higher (or lower) price. You don’t want to be blindsided by something you hadn’t previously considered. 

Also look into your counterparty in case they have a reputation for negotiating in a particular way. If you are aware of their preferred approach in advance, this might help you to better prepare from a strategic perspective.

Develop a coherent strategy 

When preparing to negotiate, whether on your own behalf or on a client’s behalf, you must carefully consider the key issues in play and the outcome(s) that you or your client want to achieve. If you have the opportunity to prepare in advance, make sure you are clear on which points you absolutely cannot concede, would ideally not concede and can concede if necessary, as well as any thresholds or ranges that you need to stick to (e.g. the lowest and highest price that you are willing to accept).

Above all, be clear on your “walk away” point, meaning the minimum outcome you’re willing to accept. You see a lot of people walk towards the wall on Dragon’s Den when considering an offer. Sometimes this is probably a negotiation tactic to force the dragons to stew for a while, but in other cases the relevant entrepreneur clearly hadn’t given enough thought in advance to their walk away point. 

Failure to plan in this way could result in you contradicting yourself – or a team member contradicting another team member – during a live negotiation, which might lead to confusion and potentially result in the other side exploiting this confusion or your team’s lack of unity to negotiate more favourable terms for themselves. 

Finally, try to ensure you have some kind of plan in place for the negotiation, then consider kicking off the negotiation call or meeting by suggesting an agenda or process to follow throughout. For example, you might want to go through each issue in turn, or prioritise the most pressing issues. This can improve your chances of progressing efficiently and effectively.