In everyday life, someone must encounter a negotiation process, even negotiating with oneself. For example, if you want to exercise but then negotiate with yourself by saying just start tomorrow, and so on, until finally it doesn’t happen. But in this article I will talk more about a person’s negotiation process with other people.

When someone becomes an adult, the negotiation process becomes something that becomes part of their life. Even as a child, negotiation is also necessary. But it will be more pronounced and of course more tiring for the mind when negotiating in the professional world. Examples include negotiating work issues, negotiating with clients, negotiating assignments and so on. From several negotiation classes that I have held, stories about the difficulty of negotiating often emerge. What exactly are these negotiations?

Negotiation is a discussion process between two people or several people at once who are expected to reach an agreement when the negotiation ends. Sometimes what makes it difficult is that the people negotiating have different expectations for the negotiation process that occurs. The hope is that during the negotiation process there will be a win-win solution for both parties. The expected win-win here is 50% for me and 50% for the opposing party. In fact, in a negotiation it is not just a matter of 50%-50% but the feeling of winning that must be involved.

One example is when negotiating with potential customers who in the end may not be 50%-50% but what we get is only 30%, then what must be considered is the long term. If this is a potential customer who has great potential to provide sustainable orders, then even if you only get 30%, it is something to consider, because it is not impossible that we will get 90% in the future.

Apart from the feeling of victory that must be involved, in negotiating one must have preparation. The preparation in question is knowing who the person you are going to negotiate with is. We must know “what is it for me” for the person who will negotiate with us to anticipate the negotiation process. Very often someone when negotiating only thinks about what “I” will get, without thinking about what “they” will get.

Understanding the hierarchy of human needs, every human being has a different level of needs, and when these needs arise in the negotiation process, it is best for the negotiating party to understand which level of needs they are at. If you are negotiating with a staff member, the communication process that must be carried out in the negotiation is to ensure that the work carried out by this staff member will not be something that makes things difficult for him. Meanwhile, if you are negotiating with a leader, what must be ensured that the negotiation communication process is prepared is how the leader can leave a “legacy” in the position he holds. So the communication process to convince the opposing party negotiating is different.

It can be seen above that in negotiations there is a communication process that will be established. In this communication process, what must be realized is that it is not just communication such as just having an ordinary discussion, but it is necessary to use persuasive communication skills. The persuasive communication process is how a communication process can influence and convince the interlocutor. And the focus is more on generating the person’s “desire” to buy the product (if this is a product purchase negotiation process) or getting the person negotiating to agree to the proposed process (if this is a negotiation to solve a problem).

 As I mentioned above, in negotiating there are stages of the process. Below are the 3 stages of the negotiation process that will be undertaken, namely:

Preparation

When facing negotiations, people often forget that preparation is needed, especially if the negotiation that will be carried out is a negotiation process that will have long-term effects. For example, negotiations with prospective clients, project negotiations, salary negotiations when hired and so on.

In this preparation process, what must be done is to identify who will be negotiating with us. Get to know your customer profile, get to know their problems, get to know what has made them want help by using our products or creating projects with us. What must be ensured is that what is seen is from their side. Trying to act or think as the opposing party will make it easier to understand what is actually expected from the negotiation.

Process

When you are prepared and on the day of the negotiation, what you have to use is your listening ability. Must understand what is actually not said by the negotiating opponent. In business cases, customers themselves often don’t know what they need or want. When this stage occurs, the ability to first explore what is needed or desired becomes very important. The ability to listen and ask questions is very important to have during the negotiation process.

Meanwhile, in handling a project, sometimes it requires the ability to get everyone involved in the project to have the same perspective and way of thinking. When everyone involved has the same perspective and way of thinking, negotiation discussions will be easier, and the process of convincing the negotiating opponent will also be easier.

These two things in this process are things that will be easier to process if in the preparation stage, several scenarios or questions have been prepared that will help during the negotiation process.

In my experience when dealing with clients, what I always do is I explore the client’s needs first. From exploring these needs, I can proceed further. And of course I also have prepared several programs that I will offer to answer the client’s needs.

Evaluation

After completing negotiations, carry out an evaluation process. What needs to be done in this evaluation process? Reflect on

• Preparation
• Process
• What is the key to success and what needs to be improved for the next negotiation process?

From this evaluation, someone usually learns what the success factors are and that can be used in the next negotiation process either with the same customer or with different customers.

From several negotiation classes that I held, several participants realized what they had been doing that was the key to success without them realizing it. And that makes them more confident and so they know what strategies to use to face the next negotiation.

Apart from the three processes above, what I also often remind participants is that they must prepare themselves like a runner. Will you run a short distance ( sprint) or a long distance run (marathon). The preparation process for these two types of negotiations will be different. Usually negotiations are like running a short distance, so all preparations in the form of documents, strategies and so on must be ready from the start, don’t leave the customer waiting. Meanwhile, if this is a negotiation that will be long-term, like running a marathon, then what must be prepared mentally is to face the tiring negotiation process. In business processes, especially in the Business to Business process , negotiation processes often occur which take a long time.

From the negotiation stories above, what someone actually needs to do in the negotiation process is to always BE PREPARED and REFLECT. So how has your negotiation process been?

If you want further discussion regarding the negotiation process, please contact your Business Coach at the number listed on this website.