What Are the Best Negotiation Strategies?
The best negotiation strategies and tactics come from understanding the negotiation process and knowing how other people use it. This allows the person negotiating to watch out for tricks another person might use to convince him that he's wrong. Negotiation is about working a problem out so that both parties are happy, but it's still best to know tricks that others use to get their own way. Certain people are less willing to negotiate than others.
Before the conversation starts, the person should prepare himself. He should make a list of the items he wants to discuss and what he wants done about them. He should know all the facts about not only what he's discussing but about counterarguments other people might make. In business, knowing facts and statistics to back up a certain point goes a long way. He should understand the different viewpoints and why others are arguing against him.
One of the best negotiation strategies is to truly understand the problem and what the competition wants. First, the person decides what he can compromise on and what he can't. Certain points he'll be willing to change or alter, but others he does not want to change. Next he identifies the problem and finds facts or arguments to back up his approach to solving it. Then he learns more about the people who do not agree with him and finds a way to make them happy without giving up on what he wants to see happen.