How to negotiate with people who are better at it than you
Quick vid (6m) of the most helpful tip about negotiating I ever got. (Text summary of key points follows.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC213Z2aB9w
Quickie summary:
- KEY CHALLENGE: You’re an amateur negotiator, they’re a professional, and you’re most disadvantaged while trying to make quick, high-stakes decisions in a hot/live/improvised scenario
- KEY TOOL: use the “proposal pause,” where you use the live chat to gather info, but then allow yourself time to think by promising to send a proposal with suggested next steps within 24h
- KEY INSIGHT: the proposal doesn’t need to be (and shouldn’t be) all-encompassing or bulletproof – it just needs to be a one-pager (or less) that describes your understanding of the situation/goals, and your suggestion (i.e., proposal) for next steps – it isn’t supposed to close the deal, only to continue the conversation
This will cause you to lose an occasional deal on the margins, but that’s surprisingly rare, and only happens when dealing with an unusually “hostile” negotiator who you probably wouldn’t want to support as one of your first contracts/investors anyway, since if they start hostile, they’re going to stay hostile.
A bit more detail and justification are in the vid.
Comments (1)
I've always liked the Dale Carnegie approach to these things:
1) You can't possibly know enough about what your prospect really wants/needs and most importantly, what their motivation is, without having a proper conversation with them first. So have that conversation, listen hard and only then come up with how you would help them. Anything else is simply arrogant.
The least that will happen is that you learn more about your prospective customers.
2) You may then come up with a proposal that is fairly standard for you. But it won't be for them. Make sure you tie it back to what you've uncovered about them.
3) It's a good idea to present your proposal live, rather than simply letting them read it. That way you can listen out for questions objections etc.
4) If there are others involved in the conversation, speak to them all together if you can, so you can understand everyone's motivations.
Having said that, I really like the idea of starting the proposal sketchy, and keeping the conversation going, allowing it to evolve. I think this might make things a lot easier for everyone.