Negotiation is an action that we use every day. Whether it is to ask for a loan, to propose services or to ask for someone's indulgence, it is necessary to negotiate. Very present in the marketing world, it is necessary to have certain dispositions to succeed in the exercise.
Negotiation means being prepared and above all understanding the other party
It is an aberration to say that a negotiation starts only when the two parties meet to negotiate. Indeed, this post explains that a good negotiation started long before this meeting. Depending on what is at stake, you will need to prepare in advance. Clearly, your preparation involves going to understand the other person's personality while putting yourself in their shoes. Ask yourself a series of questions. In particular, ask yourself what the other person's interests are, what he or she is going to gain, what he or she might lose, his or her motivations, what is at stake and, above all, his or her needs. The more you can understand the other party, the more likely you are to win the negotiations. In other words, it is possible with such preparation to anticipate all the other party's moves, which are elements around which you will form your counter-attack argument. However, the elements during the negotiation interview could change and therefore listening becomes a weapon to be prioritized.
The art of listening during the negotiation
As mentioned above, in order to understand precisely what the other negotiating party wants, you must be able to listen. This is an asset to use during the negotiation to allow you to gather important information that will allow you to understand the other party. Also, you must know how to listen during the negotiation to enable you to capture all the messages that the other party is going to broadcast, his non-verbal language as well as his reasoning in order to react effectively. In the human logic, we have the self and also the other and his perception of how he sees things. Thus, sharp listening and empathy will benefit you enormously when you are trying to understand others. It is rightly recommended that you: show interest in what the other person is saying by letting him/her express him/herself without interrupting, ask a lot of questions, remain attentive, rephrase what the other person is saying in his/her own words.