Even Small Negotiations Require

Preparation and Creativity

Jeff Weiss
May 30, 2014
https://hbr.org/2014/05/even-small-negotiations-require-preparation-and-creativity/

Whether you’re aware of it or not, you’re negotiating all the time. When you ask your boss for
more resources, agree with a vendor on a price, deliver a performance evaluation, convince a
business partner to join forces with your company, or even when you decide with your spouse
where to go on your next vacation, you’re taking a potentially conflict-filled conversation and
working toward a joint solution.

That’s what a negotiation is — a process in which two parties with potentially competing
incentives and goals come together to try to create a solution that satisfies everyone.

Too many people think that negotiation is something that salespeople or procurement
professionals do, but it’s something we all do — every day. And it’s not just high-stakes,
months-long discussions that warrant a thoughtful approach. It pays to improve your ability to
handle all of these situations. This means honing skills such as conflict management (as you’d
expect) and creative thinking (which you might not), both of which are critical to reaching
mutually beneficial decisions.

I’ve heard many people say that being a good negotiator is about thinking quickly on your feet or
being a better orator or debater than your counterpart. Sure, those things are helpful. But the best
negotiators I’ve seen in action—the ones who most often get what they want — are those who
are the most prepared and the most creative.

First, preparation. Preparation is the key to any successful negotiation, but few people spend
enough time on it. I’ve had sales leaders tell me that they prepare in accordance with how long it
takes to get to their customer’s office. That’s fine if your meeting is in Tokyo and you live in
Manhattan. But it’s a recipe for disaster if you’re meeting the customer in Brooklyn.

Instead of using travel time as a benchmark, you should put at least as much time into getting as
ready as you think the negotiation will take — at a minimum.

This is true for even seemingly straightforward discussions. If you’ve scheduled a two-hour
conversation, spend at least two hours getting ready. And the more complex the issues at hand,
the more you need to prepare — at least double or triple the length of time you’ll spend at the
table.
There are times, of course, when you won’t be able to thoroughly prepare: You see your boss on
your way into a meeting, for example, and you have to agree on when you’re going to get him
that report; a vendor shows up unexpectedly and wants to negotiate a new volume purchase; or a
customer calls demanding a price concession. Under those circumstances — and in advance of
any negotiation — it’s helpful to start asking yourself what your key interests are and what the
other party’s might be, thinking of creative solutions, and identifying persuasive standards. If
you think of the discussion as a negotiation rather than a quick check-in, you’re more likely to
treat it with the discipline it deserves.

Second, being creative — when preparing and in the room. The goal in any difficult
conversation is to end up with the best solution out of many possible options. The more options
you have at your ready, the more creative you can be. When brainstorming options in advance
or face-to-face with your counterpart, your goal is to develop possible solutions that meet the
interests of everyone involved in the negotiation — those deeper needs behind your positions.

Before you negotiate, write down as many good, bad, and crazy ideas as you can think of; don’t
settle for one or two options. Aim for at least seven or eight, even in a simple negotiation, and
many more in a complex one. Allow yourself to come up with solutions that seem unrealistic —
often from those impossible options, you’ll see a path toward a more viable one. Each solution
you come up with may not address every need you and your counterpart have, but each should
address at least a subset for both parties.

When doing this in advance, don’t worry about whether you’ll divulge these options to the other
party when you get into the room; just be creative. If you run out of steam, go back and consider
your interests and theirs, and see if you can come up with new options that address
complementary sets of interests or bridge conflicting ones.

Treating every potentially conflict-filled conversation like a negotiation that you need to prepare
well advance for and be creative about will help you will help you achieve the results you want
whether at home with your spouse or at work with your colleagues, customers, or suppliers.