The importance of negotiation is self-evident, from negotiations between countries to negotiations in personal life. It can be said that this is closely related to our lives. Without exaggeration, if you master the skill of negotiation, your life will gain a lot of fun and have fewer worries.
Doing business requires dealing with people and negotiating. If you understand negotiation, you can easily save money for the company's procurement. Presumably, your growth space in the company will be unlimited.
Salespeople need to bargain with consumers. If you can make customers happily believe your persuasion, your performance will rise, and your salary will naturally increase accordingly.
Survival in the public sphere is also full of negotiation, and negotiation can save you a considerable amount of money with just a few words. So why not do it?
But in fact, most people do not understand negotiation, and they do not know how to deal with bargaining experts, causing their business, career, and life to always fall into difficulties and dissatisfaction. After being taken advantage of, they suffer in silence, reminding themselves to be careful next time, but the next time is still the same.
Seeing this, I know you want to say, "Stop the nonsense, just tell me directly how to become a negotiation master?"
Next, I will open your negotiation insight from three aspects, namely:
Quoting: Quote high and decisively, do not accept the first offer, and act on the price.
Bargaining: Good cop/bad cop strategy, higher authority strategy, concession-for-return strategy.
Timing: Do not tell the other party your time limit, ultimatum strategy.
Quoting
To become a good negotiator, you need to act like an actor and play a scene with the other party, because once you show hesitation and timidity and the other party catches it, you will be exposed.
Three core elements in the quoting stage:
- Quote high and decisively
- Do not accept the first offer
- Act on the price
Quoting high and decisively is easy to understand because you can see many examples in life.
For example: If a piece of clothing that can be sold for 100 yuan is quoted at 100 yuan by the salesperson, will the consumer be willing to pay 100 yuan?
Certainly not. So the usual practice of salespeople is to tell you with a serious expression at the beginning of the quote that the price of this clothing is 250 yuan.
Facing this price, you certainly do not believe it, so you bargain with him, and finally you buy it for 120 yuan, thinking you got a good price.
The first quote forms an anchor, and then the other party negotiates based on this anchor. Facing the negotiator's inflated quote, what you need to do is not accept the first offer and act on the price.
Common practices include: surprise method, complaint method, nitpicking method, hypothetical closing method, silence method, feel-felt-found method.
Common tactics:
- Surprise method: "Oh my god, are you planning to rob me? You're going to eat me alive!"
- Complaint method: "If I buy at this price, my wife will kill me. The company budget and plan are insufficient; we have no money to purchase."
- Nitpicking: Find the product's shortcomings and amplify them: "Look, the threads on this clothing are coming off; it's not worth this price at all."
- Hypothetical closing: Imagine what you can get if you buy our product, and what you will lose if you do not buy it.
- Keep silent, pretend to be calm: Ask the other party to change the conditions before starting negotiation. "This clothing is good, but the price is debatable," then remain silent. At this time, the other party explains and lowers the price, and you continue to stay calm and silent. During this process, the other party lowers the price. Until you hit his price bottom, you then negotiate from this anchor point.
- Feel-felt-found method: First stabilize emotions and do not deny the other party. For example, if the other party says your price is too expensive, and if you refute at this time saying it is not expensive, that is directly denying the other party and is ineffective. Instead, say, "I completely understand your feelings. Many people are shocked and skeptical when they first hear this price, but when they truly understand our product and compare it with competitors, they ultimately find our cost-performance high and buy our product."
Quoting is an important part of the negotiation process. This stage usually involves extracting the other party's words and bottom line. Why not try playing a scene with the other party to touch their true intentions?
- Bargaining
If negotiation is a movie, then quoting is a trailer, and the bargaining process is the climax of the movie. These strategies will give you wings in the fight with the other party.
- Good cop/bad cop strategy
- Higher authority strategy
- Concession-for-return strategy
In large negotiations, good cop/bad cop is a common tactic: one bluffs, one is as steady as a mountain; one looks extremely evil, the other looks extremely kind.
In police and gangster films, you often see such scenes: when interrogating a suspect, first a particularly hot-tempered officer comes and beats and kicks,
then a polite officer comes to chat with you, asking some casual questions, to achieve the goal of solving the case. This method works repeatedly.
In business negotiations, it is the same. Using the good cop/bad cop strategy makes the other party feel both safe and urgent, and in a flustered state, they easily waver in their original thoughts.
Of course, if the other party uses the good cop/bad cop strategy, how should you respond? Look at how smart criminals do it; it can give you some inspiration.
Smart criminals find that the police are using the good cop/bad cop strategy, and usually respond in two ways: ignore it or directly point out the other party's strategy so they do not waste time.
In business negotiations, it is the same. If you find the other party using the good cop/bad cop strategy, you might as well directly expose their strategy and put them on the spot. Of course, you can also adopt the higher authority strategy to increase your leverage.
The higher authority strategy means that you need to consult a higher authority before you can agree to the other party's conditions, with the purpose of gaining sympathy and building trust.
✎ Higher authority strategy
Many salespeople are good at using this trick to fool consumers when there is a dispute over price or a deadlock.
Salespeople start saying to the other party: "How about this? The current price is the bottom line I can offer. No one has ever gotten a lower price before. I see you really like this product, and we seem to have a connection. Let me call my boss and try to get the price down. If the boss also says no, then I have no way."
At this time, the consumer responds: "Okay, go ahead and call."
Then the salesperson makes a call, whether it is really to the boss or not, and after chatting for a while, says to the customer: "Unfortunately, I talked to my boss for a long time. At first, he kept refusing, but later I said you were my relative, and he agreed to sell it to you at this price, and told me not to do it again."
Hearing this perfect lie, I believe you would be moved to tears!
The correct approach is: do not be fooled. Even if the other party uses a higher authority to negotiate with you, you can also bring out a higher authority to negotiate, authority against authority. Say to the other party, "If I buy it back at this price, my wife will kill me. Can you reduce it a bit more?"
As a negotiator, although you are fighting alone, you can bring out the authoritative figures behind you to counter authority with authority.
In price negotiation, making concessions is also a question worth thinking about. If not handled well, it is easy for the other party to exploit it.
There are two points to note in price concessions:
- Reduce the margin of concession
- Demand a return for every concession
First, the way you concede forms a price perception boundary in the other party's mind. Do not easily let the other party lower the price; people do not cherish what is too easily obtained.
For example: For an item originally priced at 6,000 yuan, if you cut the price by 2,000 before the other party even starts to bargain hard, how can consumers trust you?
Another point is that usually, the amount of price reduction should gradually decrease, giving consumers the feeling that this is already my limit.
Imagine if for an item priced at 6,000 yuan, you give the other party a 500 yuan discount the first time, and 600 yuan the second time, then the feeling for the other party is completely different.
Second, every concession should demand a return. Once you accept the other party's small request without taking measures, the other party will then propose a larger request to bargain with you, and then the snowball will roll bigger and bigger.
The correct approach is that no matter what the other party asks you to do, you should demand a return, but never state your specific requirements.
Many boys use this trick to win over the girls they like. For example, treat the other party to a meal, watch a movie, and finally, unknowingly, they achieve a positive result.
Love game mindset
If a girl finds that the other party is not her type, or wants to see more and does not want to develop too quickly, the strategy she should adopt is to say to the other party in the early stages of dating: "I can agree to your request, but what can you do for me?"
The essence is that every deeper interaction requires the other party to give more, making him realize that the process is difficult and that conquering me is not so easy. It is like leveling up in a game: to advance further, you must pay more, layer by layer.
If you have understood the point about male-female interaction just mentioned, then you have mastered the demand-and-return strategy.
In the bargaining section, the main strategies are good cop/bad cop, higher authority, and concession-for-return. Of course, each strategy is not used alone. In real negotiations, combining these strategies will unleash the greatest power.
- Timing
Time strategy is given its own heading, and its importance is no less than any of the previous techniques, especially when facing large negotiations, which are often time-consuming tug-of-wars.
In TV dramas, we often see scenes using time strategies.
- Take the negotiating partner to get a foot massage, and negotiate during the massage. At this time, the other party's guard is down, and the key is that there is enough time to persuade the other party.
- Criminals take hostages and threaten to give you three days; if you do not meet their demands, they will kill the hostage.
- The negotiator receives the other party's negotiator, but the other party is elusive all day and does not come to negotiate at the agreed time.
In the real negotiation process, 80% of concessions occur in 20% of the time. Undoubtedly, if you use the time strategy well and put the pressure of time on the other party, then you will have the initiative in the negotiation.
So how to use time strategies?
- Do not tell the other party your time limit
- Ultimatum strategy
If you show that you really like the product and are in a hurry, combining the two scarcity factors, then the negotiation has already put you at a disadvantage before it even starts.
There is a classic case about using time limits to achieve negotiation goals.
The basic terms between Party A and Party B were almost settled, but Party B felt the price was a bit high. They held out for several days without any progress.
One day, Party A called Party B and said they were at the airport, and the plane would take off in two hours. The company had called them to go on a business trip to another place and stay there for a week.
At this time, Party B hurried to the airport, worried that the other party would be away for too long and delay the contract matters, so they reluctantly signed the contract.
Negotiation is a prolonged psychological battle. In fact, the case just mentioned was a trap deliberately set by Party A. Of course, there are various other means.
For example: arriving at the other party's negotiation location but not discussing cooperation matters, knowing the other party's schedule and deliberately extending and dragging out the meeting time, etc. In the end, it all comes down to one sentence: whoever gets anxious first is more likely to lose.
If you show that you want what the other party has but can refuse at any time, you can directly extinguish the other party's momentum. This is the second method of dealing with time strategy: the ultimatum.
At the negotiation table, if the other party's conditions are too harsh, just turn around and leave. At worst, the first negotiation fails.
This trick can also be reflected in real-life negotiations with salespeople.
Ultimatum method in practice
When you see a product you like, show that you like it very much, and after chatting with the salesperson for a while—note that you must chat carefully for a while, otherwise, if you suddenly turn around and leave, they will only think you are a passerby or a spy sent by a competitor.
At this time, take out your money and let the salesperson see the hope of closing the deal. Then bargain with him again. Act very surprised at the price quoted by the salesperson. If bargaining still cannot reach your expectation, then turn around and leave.
See if the salesperson follows you closely and says, "Oh, forget it, I'll sell it to you."
In negotiation, time is a pressure point. Most concessions occur at the final time point. If you can maintain a calm attitude toward time and treat the entire negotiation as a game, staying calm and composed, then even if the other party uses time strategies against you, it will not harm you.
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Summary
This article mainly introduces practical strategies in negotiation from three aspects.
- Quoting: Quote high and decisively, do not accept the first offer, act on the price
- Bargaining: Good cop/bad cop strategy, higher authority strategy, concession-for-return strategy
- Timing: Do not tell the other party your time limit, ultimatum strategy
Combining these strategies in the negotiation process will unleash greater power. Of course, it is not guaranteed that using these strategies in negotiation will always work, because in real negotiations, in addition to the above strategies, the negotiator's own strength, leverage, and information gathering are extremely important.
- Every negotiation is an adventure. Negotiation is a psychological battle. If you have poor psychological quality, lack patience, or cannot say no, then the negotiation will be difficult to sustain.
- Leverage is the core element of negotiation. Just as criminals can fight face-to-face with special police because they have hostages, holding leverage firmly in your hands is something you must do at all times during negotiation.
- Information gathering: Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. Being arrogant at the table is because you are actively looking for materials and information about the other party under the table.
Finally, it must be emphasized: do not always try to screw the other party. Find the point of win-win, think about issues based on interests rather than positions. Go quickly and use these tactics in life and negotiation!
Source: Marketing Inn -END-