The Most Powerful Negotiation Weapon
One negotiating tool is so powerful that a thorough understanding of its
use can catapult your negotiating skill and success to the top. Using it
can transform mediocre results into unqualified successes. So few people
use it effectively, it is unlikely your customer or supplier will recognize
it or use it against you. Although the skill takes some effort, practice
and is not a natural one for most people, you can learn to use it in just
a few hours. Unfortunately, there are few, if any, formal courses of instruction
in colleges or management training curriculums for this skill. As essential
as it is, you must learn it and practice it yourself.
The Weapon
The powerful negotiating weapon is the skill of listening. "That's
all," you say, "just listening?" Yes, but look
what it can do for you. Listening intently to the person you
are negotiating with can: 1) reveal their true interests; 2)
give you the alternatives you need to offer them to close the
deal; 3) provide feedback on what you have presented or offered
so far; 4) tell you what else you can ask for; 5) let you know
what the competition is doing; 6) reinforce the personal relationship
with the person you are negotiating with; 7) let you confirm
the other party's understanding of your side; 8) make the other
person feel good about the deal; 9) let you control the negotiation;
10) build credibility. All this and more-just from listening.
Power The Ammunition
We all know knowledge is power. Having power on your side in
a negotiation can make the difference whether you get what you
want. How else can you get so much information from those who
negotiate with you? Can you get the data you need any easier?
It would take weeks, months or even years of research or investigation
to uncover the facts-facts you need-that you can grasp in a few
minutes of listening. Not only do you get the information you
need, you get it quickly and economically. Let's look at what
you need and how you get it.
What You Need Loading the Weapon
Following the Target Negotiation system (where you prepare,
ask for what you want and trade-off concessions), you need to
know as much, or more, about the business alternatives of the
other side as your own. Never assume their choices or needs are
the same as yours. Or, that they value the same benefits as you
do.
Specifically, you should identify the real reasons the other
side wants to make a deal-not just what they say, but their underlying
wants. Most people you negotiate with don't always start negotiations
by revealing the issues they consider critical. Besides their
business and financial wants, you must discover their personal
needs. Are they looking for recognition, understanding, or do
they just want someone to listen to them?
Without knowing their business, financial and personal wants
and needs, you will be unprepared to negotiate. You will not
be able to suggest mutually beneficial solutions, nor be able
to offer the right benefits. You may try to, as the expression
goes, sell them oranges when they want apples.
You also will want to know which concessions to ask for and
which you can offer that will work. Having this information will
give you the edge you need-power to negotiate-to get what you
want.
How You Get It Firing the Weapon
Having the most powerful weapon on the battlefield is of no
value if you don't know how to load it or use it. To use your
listening skills and, for that matter, your speaking skills,
to your advantage, the first rule is to listen. Keep quiet long
enough for the other person to talk about their business. You
don't learn anything when you are talking. Ask open-ended questions
(ones that cannot be answered by a yes or no) about the persons'
business. You may want to ask about new products or services,
plans or current problems. When the other person answers, encourage
them to expand their answer. Inquire, "How is that going
to work?" Or add, "What else are you looking for or
planning?" The harmless request "Tell me more..." also
encourages them to share their thoughts with you. Once started,
most people like to talk about their business, their job, or
themselves. Remember, that is what they are thinking about most
of the time.
What will surprise you is how much people will tell you, if
you have the patience to listen. Keep the conversation focused
on them. Incidentally, when you need to describe any benefits
of doing business with you or your company, do so in terms of
what the other person receives, not what you get. For example,
don't say, "This contract is the biggest one our company
has." Instead you might share the fact that "your company
is getting the lowest unit cost we offer."
Besides talking about business issues you have two other procedures
to follow to use the listening weapon. Listen for personal needs
and for the type of communication the person prefers. Personal
needs may include recognition ("my boss will really notice
me if this deal closes"), security ("my job will be
protected if I get the best price") or esteem ("the
other people in my department will appreciate what I got for
them"). You need to fill the personal needs the other side
has, as well as the business requirements.
They may favor different communication styles. You may encounter
a person who just wants the cold, hard facts, to one who wants
to "feel" they have the best deal, to one who wants
to "see" how the deal works. Use the means of communication
they seek to close the deal. For example, if they want to see
how it will work, show them charts, graphs, pictures and other
visual evidence of the benefits they will receive. Listening
for what is important to your customer or supplier is the best
way, and the easiest way, to prepare for your negotiation. Offer
them what they are looking for--not what you think they need.
Use the same approach to find your best method of communication.
Double Hit
You will hit the target twice with one shot if you use the listening
weapon properly. You will know what to offer and how to present
the offer, but you also get a bonus. By listening and having
the other person know you are listening, you will build the personal
relationship necessary to keep communications as effective as
possible.
Let them know you are listening by occasionally asking, "Let
me see if I understand you correctly," and then repeat your
version of what they told you. This confirmation process proves:
1) you listened to them and 2) you really do know what they want.
Knowing that you listened to them builds their trust and your
credibility. So, the relationship prospers.
Avoid Backfires
Be careful of backfires. Just as the listening weapon will ensure
your victory, it can also, when used more effectively by the
other side than by you, ensure they will gain the most power.
When you are negotiating or meeting anytime, be careful you don't
reveal that you "have to close this deal in two weeks or
lose $1.5 million in guarantees," or that you have to "finish
by 5 PM to catch a plane," or other confidential information
that will give the other side the advantage. Make sure your technical
and administrative people don't speak too freely, either. The
weapon shoots wherever you point it. Don't let it backfire on
you.
Now you know what the most powerful weapon is and how to use
it. While your competition attempts to hammer home their ideas
of what your customer or supplier wants, you can glide through
the deal and close it. Listen and win.
"Deal-Maker" Bernard Zick, a top Business Growth
Expert, has spoken to over 250,000 top leaders in America.
His expertise is widely recognized, and he is considered a
master negotiator. You can contact "Deal-Maker" Zick
at www.zick.com. His best-selling book is The Negotiating Paradox
by Skyward Publishing--www.skywardpublishing.com.
