Tips on Winning During Negotiations

At one point or the other, every creative would be involved in the context of discussing an agreement with a client, gallery, firm, or manufacturer. However, what you get from any transaction is dependent on your bargaining skills.

Indeed, negotiating can be really complicated especially when a client expects you to reduce your price at a time like this when everything in Nigeria has tripled up in price. Still, there is no contract or agreement that can be reached without serious dialogue between two people who play different roles in the negotiation process… 

Negotiation is a game that every art/creative entrepreneur has to be efficient at. It is a skill you have to develop gradually along the way.

It is essential to your growth and career sustenance as you continue to move further up the ladder of success. 

Sealing a deal you need is dependent on two things: 

not needing the deal as the other side does

Persuading or causing the other person or group involved in the negotiation to think or believe that they need the deal more than you do 

Make a negotiation list: 

These are the list whose boxes you must seal during the negotiation or the deal is canceled. It could be getting the Fashion House to guarantee insurance of your dressing and copyright of your designs.

Before leaving your house or office to seat at negotiation tables, it is essential to make a list of the fundamental part of the deal you would love to seal. These are the things you won’t give up no matter how powerful the other side is during negotiation.

For example, you might be willing to compromise the price of your artwork during the negotiation but the price of the delivery fee never changes.

Preparing your mind and negotiation list ahead of the bargaining keeps you solid against the fierceness or enticement of the other side. 

Be coordinated, clear and straightforward on what you want, need, and expect from the deal.

You already lost a negotiation if you go into it or start the discussion without your needs and wants. Don’t be afraid to express your negotiation list.

So every point of disagreement can be totally thrashed during the negotiation. This is important to avoid issues or back and forth after the project or contract is executed which most of the time is costly. 

Be composed: 

To start with, you have to be calm and control your emotions during negotiations. It is very easy to rip you off during negotiations of your emotions come across as you being too eager or excited to get the raw material, equipment, clothing, or art you are in talks to buy.

It is also to sell cheaply to a customer who has bought your service or goods for triple the fee if your emotions sell you off as too eager to get it off your stand or store.

Therefore, it is essential that you disguise your emotions during negotiations or use it as a misdirection to get the other side to sell or buy at a price you desire them to. 

What’s your rank during negotiation: 

There are two ranks when it comes to negotiating. There is the fragile and the powerful rank. The fragile rank is those who have everything to lose if the negotiation does not go well.

The powerful rank is filled with those who have nothing to lose no matter the outcome of the negotiation. Thereby the fragile ranks are those who would have to go with the different tricks of pretense, persuasion, and submission.

The powerful are those in the controlling seat who have to look out for the other side’s bluffs in the fragile side’s attempt to take advantage of the powerful side.

Overall, knowing your level in the negotiation aids you in grasping how you can take advantage of the other side during negotiation; whether to further increase or quickly accept an offer. 

What’s the other side’s perception of their rank: 

It is not sufficient to know your level during negotiations. You also need to be aware of how the other person regards their rank in the bargaining.

If the other person is on the powerful rank but weak during the negotiation, you can take the strong voice even if your rank is fragile. Imagine meeting an artist whose artwork you have been looking forward to buying for years but you could not get the opportunity.

Eventually, you do but only one work is available at an exorbitant price. The seller of such work is in the powerful rank but you can win the negotiation if they are probably very interested in sealing the deal; meaning you can get them to reduce their price if you are aware of such emotion as you observe them during the negotiation. 

What is your negotiation personality: 

Normally and naturally, successful negotiators are people who are fearless and daring when it comes to the demands they make during negotiations, agreements, or contract discussions.

However, understanding your character during negotiations helps you prepare adequately for when you come face to face with a non-passive negotiator. 

Be smart and calculative when it comes to making compromises: 

You will not always be in powerful rank all the time. At times when you are in the fragile rank, you might have to make compromises for the deal to be successful.

For example, an online e-commerce store might have to give a 10% discount on goods on sale but at what cost to the store? If giving the discount would affect the major business or financial need of the e-commerce store, then such a compromise might be a disaster at the end of the day.

At other times, you would have to compromise only when the other side is willing to make a compromise on the same level. However, a compromise is not a smart one if in the process you are giving up that which is the most essential part of the negotiation to you.