Learn How to Negotiate More Effectively

Whether you are a job applicant trying to get an acceptable salary, a sales person trying to win over a client or a business owner setting up a contract with a vendor, negotiating is a skill you must have to get the results you want. If you aren’t an effective negotiator, you will be at the mercy of the other person. Fortunately, this is a skill which can be developed.

Know Your Desired Outcome

Many people enter negotiations without a clear goal. They aren’t sure what they want or even what they will accept. Before you start any negotiations with the other party, know what you hope the end result will be and your cut-off point.

For example, say you are negotiating a salary with an employer who has just offered you a job. You would like to make $40,000 per year, so that is your desired result. Since negotiating is all about give and take, you also need to know the lowest amount you will accept. In this instance, you are willing to go as low as $30,000. This means your area for negotiations is between the two amounts.

Back Your Request with Facts

If you want to get your desired salary, you must show why you deserve it. Perhaps that is the industry standard or you have more skills or education than the average person in this position. You must be able to prove your side of the negotiation.

The same holds true when trying to win over a new customer. You must be able to prove why your product or service is better. You cannot hope to win them over to your side without using logic and sound reasoning.

Be Clear

Whether you are negotiating price with a customer or a contract with a business partner, you must be

clear on your terms. This includes stating everything in simple terms so there is no misunderstanding and speaking clearly so they can understand what you’re saying.

In today’s global economy, it’s not uncommon to be working with people from all over the world. The difference in accents and speech patterns as well as the words used make it more difficult to be understood. If you do a lot of negotiating, you may want to hire an accent reduction coach to help you learn to enunciate more clearly in your business meetings.

It also helps to speak in short sentences where you get to the point. While some negotiators use long speeches and complicated words to confuse the other person, this doesn’t usually lead to the results you want. You don’t want to just win at the actual negotiation, you want the other person to be satisfied with the outcome for a successful long-term relationship.

Negotiating is a skill anyone can learn. From hiring a business speech coach to writing down your goals, you can learn how to become an effective negotiator who gets the results they want. This is a life skill as well as one that will benefit you in any business.

Claudette Roche is a dialect coach in the VeroBeach, FL area. She teaches foreign and American accents to actors and business persons/executives. In 2010 she was named as one of The Top 5 Voice Coaches by Hollywood Weekly Magazine.

Claudette Roche is a dialect coach who teaches accent coach.