Lack of preparation in a negotiation almost always sets a person up for failure. First and foremost, each party must clearly define their own goals and objectives. Secondly, each party must anticipate the goals of the opposition. This may require doing some background research. Finally, each party must come up with various alternatives to their main objectives.
沒有準備的談判人員註定是失敗的。首先，談判人員必須非常明確他們的目的和具體目標。其次，他們要知道對手的目標。這要求在每場談判前都要做大量的調查和分析。最後，也是最容易被忽視的就是，談判人員必須準備大量的替代方案。
英文談判案例：
Markus Prepares to Negotiate with Louis/ Markus準備和Louis談判
Markus approaches Louis after his shift on Friday afternoon and asks if he can arrange a meeting to discuss a potential promotion. Louis sighs and reminds Markus that they already had this discussion last year. Markus agrees, but reminds Louis of his loyalty to the company and insists that they speak again on the subject next week. Eventually Louis, who is afraid that Markus might quit on the spot, agrees to meet on Monday during the crews lunchhour.
在星期五下午的調動之後，Markus接觸了Louis，詢問是否能夠安排一個單獨會面時間來討論一下Markus的升職可能性。Louis提醒Markus他們已經在去年談過著這個話題了。但是Markus提醒Louis要注意到自己對公司的忠誠，並且堅持下週要再談一談這件事。結果害怕Markus離職的Louis同意了在週一的午餐時間談一下。
Over the weekend, Markus thinks about Mondays meeting. Last year, he was unprepared to negotiate and ended up only getting a 50 cent/hour pay raise. This did not satisfy him, and he has continued to feel undervalued ever since. Many times, after a hard day at work, Markus has considered quitting. However, it is difficult to find work in the middle of winter. Markus has a family to support and he cant afford to lose his job.
整個週末，Markus都在思考週一的私人談話。去年由於沒有準備，結果那場談判以時薪僅上漲50cent的結果而告終。他對此非常不滿，自此後一直認為自己的價值被低估了。許多次，當經過了一天的勞累之後，Markus總是想離開。儘管如此，在冬天這個時節是很難找工作的，Markus要養一個家庭，而他不能沒有工作。
Markus decides to do some research on negotiating. He learns the principles behind collaborative negotiating, and decides that this is the approach he will take this time. After he has understood the concept he can ask himself the preparatory questions above. Finally, he can apply the rules of collaborative negotiating to his own case.
Markus決定針對此次談判做一次調查。他學習了共同談判的原則，並且決定這就是這次他才取得當時。他弄明白了其中的概念，問了自己幾個預先準備的問題，最終，他要把