The Key Negotiation Skill Of Determining Achieveable Objectives For Your Business Negotiations.

A critical negotiation skill in your business negotiations is how you go about preparing your objectives.

I want to provide you with 3 key points that we cover in our negotiation skills training workshops to consider when you are preparing for your negotiations.

1. What is the absolutely ideal outcome for you in this negotiation?

What would a absolutely wonderful agreement (one that you would be very happy to agree to) look like?

We call this your aspiration base - in other words, the level at which you will aspire to close the deal.

You should remember that it is vital in your negotiation to always ask for a little more than you would like to get. This means that you must always have an aspiration base that is higher than your planned outcome. By asking for a little more than you would like to achieve you allow yourself to make a concession to your counterpart in return for a counter concession.

On the positive side, you may just get what you regard to be ideal if you ask for it! Don't make the mistake of making decisions on behalf of your counterpart by saying to yourself they will not consider that .Take note that I am not proposing that you make extreme demands - extreme demands are highly risky and dependent on the cultural context within which you find yourself.

2. What is the absolutely minimum acceptable outcome for you in this negotiation?

At what point will you decide to end or suspend your discussions?

If you do not decide on a specific point at which it will no longer be realistic or attractive for you to close a transaction, then you may become vulnerable to reaching an agreement that you will not be able to live with. This is important to do as you could easily become emotionally committed to closing a transaction at any cost because you may think that your individual credibility is at stake.

3. What do you think are the aspirations and minimum acceptable agreement levels for your counterpart?

It is also critical that you consider the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels from your counterparts viewpoint. This will never be an exact science but through proper preparation and investigation of supporting information you may be able to get a good view of what kind of agreement is the norm in your industry or kind of negotiation.

By thinking about the aspirations and minimum acceptable agreement levels from your counterparts viewpoint, you will be able to identify the agreement range. Knowing the agreement range or zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) will help you to see if a deal is possible or not.

Most negotiation training workshops will teach you that the bargaining range is defined as the area of overlap between your minimum acceptable deal level and the minimum acceptable deal levels of your counterpart.

Remember that 99 percent of your success in negotiation is dependent on the quality of your preparation. You should spend at least as much time preparing for negotiations as you expect to be busy negotiating. If you expect to be in negotiations for an hour, then you should spend at least the same time in preparations.