The Big Secret to Being a Brilliant Negotiator

I think negotiation has to be one of the most ill-advised subjects in business. You hear so much rubbish about how to win a deal. You hear that where you sit at the table matters, that you should listen carefully, that you should set a low price and that you should ask certain questions.

There’s no question that some of this advice will help you a little bit when negotiating. However, the advice misses the key fundamental of being a good negotiator - having something that someone else wants. If somebody else wants what you have, then you can charge a high price; if they don’t want it, you really can’t.

In our business we sell two things: coaching to people who need help with their love lives and advertising space on our website. Guess which one is easier to sell? Yes - of course - the courses to people who want help in their love lives. They’re desperate for a solution to the frustrations they are facing.

We’re brilliant at helping people and, if they come to us, they can be in a position where their love life is infinitely better in a few months. We have a lot of power because we are so well placed to help them and because they have a great need.

On the other hand, when we sell advertising space we have less power. Let’s take the example of an online dating service. They could advertise with us - and our platform is attractive - but there are a million other places to advertise. For us, this is a harder sell. What we have in terms of content and advertising space is unique for them, but they have to be convinced of this. In this arena we have less power (at the moment).

No matter how good or bad we are at sales, we always sell a far higher proportion of coaching courses than blocks of advertising space on our website.

So when you are thinking about negotiating, instead of thinking, “how can I win a negotiation” think, “how can I bring the most value to the negotiation such that the other party will bow to my demands?”

About the author

The London School of Attraction Ltd - www.lsattraction.com

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