One Simple Negotiation Skills Technique That Will Immediately Deliver Improved Negotiation Outcomes

There is one easy negotiation skills method that can be deployed by anyone to immediately and positively impact their negotiation results. This method is to always (yes always) exaggerate your expectations at the negotiation table.

Henry Kissinger, the famous American Secretary of State said: Effectiveness at the conference table depends upon overstating one's demands, a well known quote referred to in both negotiation training and sales training courses. There are numerous reasons why it is key for you to start with high aspirations when you participate in negotiations:

1. Research has confirmed that high objectives will regularly do better than low aspirations. It could be said that if you want to hit the moon, you must aim for the stars. You will be surprised by the effectiveness of something so uncomplicated. Many of my customers are thrilled when they understand that they can realise more from their negotiations by simply requesting more!

2. Having high aspirations will allow you to 'anchor' the negotiation around your objectives. It is much better 'anchoring' negotiations around your aspirational level rather than your minimum acceptable rate. Having high aspirations convey confidence and helps to emphasize the quality of your suggestions.

3. Perhaps most importantly, having high aspirations will present you with the opportunity to be flexible in your negotiations. Research tells us that almost everybody equate their success at the negotiation table with their ability to get concessions from their counterparty. The reality is that your counterparty will have no motivation to be flexible or to make allowances to you if you are not willing and able to make concessions to them.

Therefore, if you do not permit yourself some 'room to move' then you risk coming across to your counterparty as someone who is stubborn and unprepared to make concessions. Please note that I am NOT proposing that you open your negotiations with extreme and unrealistic demands. Your opening offer must show a level that is realistic and that you are able to justify using a solid, factual argument. It can be high risk using extreme requirements and offers as your counterpart may well decide not to deal with you at all.

I once worked with a large multi-national organisation who used an approach of 'the price we demand is the only price we sell at'. As they are a well established and old company in the USA, most of their clients have come to know them as the type of business that has a conservative method to business and have learned to live with this approach. However, when using this approach in Poland, the company realised that they were being perceived as being inflexible by the other side because they would never budge on their prices.

In Polish business culture this approach was not acceptable and they found it exceedingly difficult to conclude transactions in the Polish market place. The simple remedy was for them to ask for a little more than their regular prices so that they could allow clients the opportunity to negotiate with them and to gain some concessions from them. This method proved to be very successful for them.

Of course, keep in mind that 9 out of 10 times your counterparty's first offer will be an aspirational goal, not their minimum expected outcome. This means that you should never agree to any first offer that is made - you must always negotiate!

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