The art of negotiation

I am sure most of you (like me) have read a lot on this topic. We face this challenge day in and day out. We are always negotiating... with our boss, our colleagues, our customers, our suppliers, our family members, relatives ... and the list is endless. An incident narrated by one of my managers when i worked for IBM had a profound impact on me. He told us one should try and learn the art of negotiation from the little kids around. He had a wonderful daughter. His daughter, when she wanted to watch a particular channel on TV, would successfully negotiate with her parents and grandparents. She would always win. When the parents are strict, she would run to the grandparents and use her soft skills and eventually win over her parents too. She would request, plead, cry.... do what it takes to get what ever she wanted. I tried to use this technique successfully when I bought an apartment, where I had to negotiate with the builder /property developer.

Few points that I would like to share on this topic are:
1. Prepare your mind set to win. Make it believe this is a do or die situation and you have to win.
2. When two people are negotiating, usually the one who has more patience and who is a better communicator wins.
3. You should do your home work. Work out all possible scenarios in your mind and determine what you are ready to let go in each scenario.
4. You should always endeavour to close the deal on a negotiation table. Scenarios which are viewed / perceived as win-win make both parties happy and set things up for a lasting relationship.
5. Never sit on the negotiation table when you are constrained for time. Negotiations usually run out of scheduled time and you should be prepared.
6. Never give up. The last resort should be to agree that you disagree today and agree to meet again (fix a date).

Try it in your next round of negotiation and share you success story with me.

Good Luck!