During the course of his career with JMI and a number of other companies, John Church has often been called upon to enter negotiations with clients or their potential business partners. Negotiating at a high level requires a cool head and quick thinking, which can make the process very intimidating for people who have never engaged in it before. If you are looking to advance in your career and need to understand what it takes to be successful during negotiations, keep all of the following pointers in mind.
Always Come Prepared
It is never enough to know everything there is to know about your own company. You also need to have conducted thorough research on every other person at the negotiating table so that you have a good idea of what you have to offer and if there are any areas that are ripe for use when you get down to brass tacks. A lack of preparation will show in the way that you present yourself and you may find yourself walking away from the negotiating table with unfavorable terms if you don’t put the legwork in beforehand.
Start High
You should have a set of terms that you are hoping to achieve in your mind before you enter negotiations. However, you should never start by proposing these terms. Instead, start higher than you would be happy settling with. This will allow you to work down towards your satisfactory terms if required, making them more appealing to the other people at the table in the process. On rare occasions, you may even find that you get more than you expected because you took the chance. Just make sure that the offer you make doesn’t insult anybody’s intelligence.
Maintain A Cool Head
There is always the possibility that intense negotiations can become very tense, which often leads to less experienced negotiators losing their cool and becoming emotional. This is something that you should aim to avoid at all costs, as losing your temper will reflect poorly on the company that you are representing and may lead to you saying something that you will later come to regret.
Have Passion
During the course of his work with JMI, John Church found that approaching negotiations with a passionate and enthusiastic demeanor allowed him to convince people of the viability of his offers much more easily than if you had taken a dour approach. You should look to speak first whenever you are given the opportunity and you should show enthusiasm for everything that you have to say. It is here where you can show a little bit of emotion, such as smiling if the negotiation is going in the right direction. Anger should only be shown in limited amounts and must be controlled.
Always Come Prepared
It is never enough to know everything there is to know about your own company. You also need to have conducted thorough research on every other person at the negotiating table so that you have a good idea of what you have to offer and if there are any areas that are ripe for use when you get down to brass tacks. A lack of preparation will show in the way that you present yourself and you may find yourself walking away from the negotiating table with unfavorable terms if you don’t put the legwork in beforehand.
Start High
You should have a set of terms that you are hoping to achieve in your mind before you enter negotiations. However, you should never start by proposing these terms. Instead, start higher than you would be happy settling with. This will allow you to work down towards your satisfactory terms if required, making them more appealing to the other people at the table in the process. On rare occasions, you may even find that you get more than you expected because you took the chance. Just make sure that the offer you make doesn’t insult anybody’s intelligence.
Maintain A Cool Head
There is always the possibility that intense negotiations can become very tense, which often leads to less experienced negotiators losing their cool and becoming emotional. This is something that you should aim to avoid at all costs, as losing your temper will reflect poorly on the company that you are representing and may lead to you saying something that you will later come to regret.
Have Passion
During the course of his work with JMI, John Church found that approaching negotiations with a passionate and enthusiastic demeanor allowed him to convince people of the viability of his offers much more easily than if you had taken a dour approach. You should look to speak first whenever you are given the opportunity and you should show enthusiasm for everything that you have to say. It is here where you can show a little bit of emotion, such as smiling if the negotiation is going in the right direction. Anger should only be shown in limited amounts and must be controlled.