While I’d love to tell you all of our “trade secrets,” that would make me feel unneeded and you’d take my place here at TGP. I’m not here to divulge our entire process, but let me peel back the curtain a bit, so that you can take a look behind the scenes.
See, negotiation isn’t just about moving numbers around. It’s positioning yourself for the next move, to land where you want to be. Like a game of chess, a round of poker, or trying to get more money at the pool (you know your kids have won this battle plenty of times), there are some key factors that play a major role in strong negotiation.
1. Persistence
Negotiation doesn’t start at the time you want to move money or terms around – at that point, it’s too little, too late. It starts….waaaayyyy back. The more times we mention something, the more the subconscious minds starts to believe it. If I know that my client is going to want to negotiate, it needs to start with the first conversation. This can’t be forward, it’s needs to be more passive, so-to-speak. You must be careful not to insult, or the other party goes into defense mode.
2. Mindset
If you want to make a strong point in negotiation, you have to be preemptive – understanding how the other party responds to information, reiterates what you’ve said, and how they will speak to their represented client. If I can’t speak directly with the decision maker, I need to speak to their representation the way that I would like them to repeat it, as if I was speaking directly to them. Though, the are of mastering the language is not easily procured, and therefore – I may need to repeat information a multitude of times (passively – yep, don’t forget this), until they repeat it back to me without knowing. Creating that mindset, certainly “gets the ball rolling.”
3. Evidence
You can never negotiate with a “because that’s what I want,” or a “because I feel this way,” attitude. People need to understand why you are devaluing something that they have often worked hard for, and clearly feel is more valuable than you do. Without stating a clear and evidential argument, people simply just won’t understand your position. It will be comparable to an argument amongst children of “who had the toy first” – which we know never ends well! The person you are negotiating with needs to understand your thought process, your rational - why this beloved object, item, etc. is not worth as much to you, or the rest of the world in many cases - so they can make the distinction that they are asking too much for it. You can’t tell them, ”they need to figure it out on their own". Evidential arguments are a great way to bring them closer to the middle.
I hope this has piqued your curiosity and gives you a slight bit of insight as to why our teams are expert negotiators. This isn’t just about moving numbers or terms; it’s about setting up the game so that you get to say “checkmate.” As always, we are here to help and happy to explain why we spend so much time crafting our art…” The Art of Negotiation.”