Success is replicable but only if we know what has worked well for others.
Here are some common characteristics of the most successful negotiators. Being successful, doesn't mean being cunning, tricky, transactional, thinking win/lose. It also doesn’t mean being impervious to the impact the way you conduct a negotiation will have on both your current reputation and longevity in the marketplace.
Good reputation with good intentions
People may forget the finer points of the negotiation but they will remember how we treat them. Burning people, being too sharp, too cunning creates a negative reputation for fair dealing.
Respectful, trusting and trustworthy
Getting to a mutually satisfactory and beneficial outcome is the goal. Along the way, we treat the counter party with respect and they feel it. This adds to our own commercial history as someone you can trust in business and that is worth a lot more than the contents of one transaction.
Confident and positive
Having the right intentions gives us strength to find a solution that will be well regarded. We are constantly looking for a way through the difficulties, seeking to find a solution to the other party’s issues.
Well prepared
Knowing the facts, the background, the individuals, the market situation are all elements we can and should prepare prior to having any discussions with the counterparty. Being able to quickly source key information, as negotiations get underway, is a tremendous booster to finding a successful outcome.
Composed
Calm and considered is a good philosophical position to adopt in negotiations. Emotional control is a prerequisite for success in life and especially in business.
Effective communicator
This idea often suggests being a good talker when in actual fact being a good listener is often more important. Asking excellent questions and listening for what is not being said is an approach that will yield rewards.
People skills
Helping people to relax, finding common ground, getting on their wave length are all people skills. We like to do business with people who are like us and that is where the person with people skills really shines.
Open-minded
Flexibility is a source of strength in a fluid, shifting activity like negotiating. Rigidity can lock us in to a position which precludes a mutually beneficial agreement, usually because we have let our own ego get in the way.
Creative
We are sometimes captives to our limited knowledge and experiences and so the world of possibilities seems small. Finding a tangential solution through a creative approach can produce surprising breakthroughs, when everything seems to be heading toward a train wreck in the negotiations.
A risk taker
In finding agreement there is always an element of risk. Caution, timidity, fear drive us into corners from which it is sometimes difficult to emerge. Having a capacity to take a risk because you have thought through how to minimise that risk once taken, is a big advantage when it comes to finding creative solutions to end an impasse.
