Name: The Yes Book
Rating: 4.1 (38 reviews)
Author: Clive Rich

What’s in it for me? Learn the art of negotiation.

Whether you’re at a business meeting or rummaging at a flea market, asking a friend for a favor or buying a car – negotiation is an important part of the process. Indeed, it could be argued that an ability to negotiate determines, to a large extent, your success in life.

So it’s surely good to know how to turn a negotiation into a success – or, in other words, how to reach an outcome that profits both you and the person you’re negotiating with.

These blinks will teach you how to do exactly that. You’ll learn when to be steadfast and when to concede, how to behave favorably and which attitude to adopt when trying to make a deal.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how to give coinage;
why an advertising company left British Rail waiting in a dirty room with stale food; and
why you should talk to strangers.

The changing nature of business has transformed the style of successful negotiations.

Whether you’re working on a promotion for yourself or a deal on behalf of your company, bargaining skills are essential. There are a few central skills that will have you negotiating like a pro and you’re about to learn how to develop them.

But first, it’s important to understand how negotiating has transformed with time.

A successful negotiation used to be described as a process of wrestling your opponent into submission. For instance, when two warring nations would meet to agree on a peace treaty, the stronger military power of the two would essentially force the other into accepting their desires. The same was true for business negotiations when a large firm wanted to acquire a smaller one.

In the past, this approach has worked just fine for big businesses, since they tended to be less interdependent than they are today. Back then, forcing a rival or smaller partner out of the game might present a small setback – say, a financial loss in one quarter – but wasn’t sheer suicide.

But that’s all changed. Today, losing a business partner can cause long-term damage and serious financial loss.

That’s why current negotiations are all about satisfying every party involved. Just take firms like Apple and Coca-Cola, which produce, market and sell their products all over the world. This global presence means they’re more dependent on the cooperation of other firms such as materials suppliers or local marketing agencies.

Because of this, they must approach negotiations in an entirely new manner; they must strive for common ground and solutions that leave everyone feeling good. Instead of simply strong-arming others, they now have to sit down with smaller companies to gain access to their markets.

But that doesn’t mean bad negotiations are a thing of the past. It’s still important to actively prevent deals from going sour, and that all depends on the attitude you bring to the table – a concept you’ll learn about in the next blink.

Attitude is everything in negotiations and the best approach is to look for win-win situations.

The basic attitude you bring to a negotiation will play a major role in shaping the discussion. Simply put, some attitudes are great and others aren’t. Let’s first discuss the ones you should definitely avoid.

The two most harmful attitudes you can bring to a negotiation are losing and using.

A good negotiator is aware of her position and focused on the outcome.

Anyone who has ever played a game of poker knows that, before betting begins, you need to determine how strong your hand is. Well, the same goes for any negotiation. So how can you determine the strength of your position?

First, you need to “count your aces.” You can do this in three steps.

Careful bidding and bargaining are all important when successfully closing a deal.

As you near the end of a negotiation, it’s time to get serious. The phase during which you bid and bargain can easily make or break the whole deal and it’s essential that, before making your own bid, you ask the other party what they want.

Doing so will make them feel both heard and like their position is being taken seriously. Not just that, but putting your needs first could damage the mood or, if the other company is smaller, make them feel steamrolled.

Body language and practice are essential to skilled negotiating.

Now that you’ve got a picture of what a successful negotiation looks like, it’s time to have a closer look at the subtleties of making a deal. Two major ones are behavior and body language, both of which are crucial to setting the proper climate.

For instance, if your goal is to achieve a sense of cooperation, you should ask the other side what they want, and then talk about all that you can accomplish by working together. Your body language and tone should communicate your excitement and engagement.

Key ideas in The Yes Book