How to begin negotiations?
Ice breakers? Throwing in a joke? Negotiations begin with the first interaction between sides and this is of great meaning. With the first gesture or word that our partner receives, their mind beings to construct an image reflecting how it perceives us. The first pieces of information their perception assimilates are the most important because they have an effect analogic to anchoring – based on them further images will be created. If for some reason we make an undesired impression, correcting our image will be time consuming. The beginning of negotiation has to be integrated with our strategy. As we use a different strategy when buying a car than when making an annual deal for our contractor, we will desire to be perceived in different ways in both cases. For this reason, it is wise to firstly think up a strategy and then determine how we wish to be perceived. Based on that we can plan how to begin our negotiations. Below I present some practical things, which are worth taking into account. You can treat them as tips:- When talking with someone for the first time we can effectively establish a relationship if we satisfy his basic human need of acceptance. Subconsciously, we seek acceptance in every human we encounter. We can accept someone along with their emotions by proper communication.
- Find common ground. Anything that you and your partner has in common can be used to build relationship. The rarer the thing, the stronger it can bind. For example, we usually feel stronger emotions coming across a person with whom we share a passion for African herbs than to something as popular as
- Take care of body language and intonation. These two elements make 93% of the message. Remembering about such elements as a smile, straight back, chin one centimeter above the horizon and a calm and firm voice is a basic matter (as long as our strategy does not state differently).
- Focus on the person and his attitude. Thanks to developed listening competencies as well as a good eye for body language and sensitive empathy you can gain valuable information. For example you’ll feel if your partner wants to jump to the concretes or start with a small talk and get to know you better.
- Set the time frame. This depends on the type of negotiations but in most cases it is good to determine how long you would like to hold the talks and if you consider staying more time if the need arises.
- During the first few minutes mention your partner’s name twice. There are two reasons for doing this. Firstly, a person’s name is the most dear words they could hear – by saying them to your partner, you act for the benefit of your relation and gain respect. Secondly, you will memorize their name.
- During the first few minutes get your partner to say numerous ‘yes’. This way their mind learns that you are a person with whom it can agree. Also, its memory makes an account of these ‘agreements’.
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