Career Advice Tips to be more productive

Simple and Easy Tips to Help Improve Your Negotiation Skills

The art of negotiation is a vital skill to possess. Not only can it help you broker better rates when you’re looking to buy a house, but it can also help accelerate your career too. By learning how to improve your negotiation skills, you can argue for a higher salary and make the case for why you should be considered for a promotion. The advantages of possessing great negotiation skills may be invaluable, but they are not so readily taught in school, leaving so many with inadequate knowledge on how to reach better deals. In order to negotiate better, all you need to start are a few simple and easy tips.

 

Speak confidently and assertively. First and foremost, if you want anything changed in your favour, you’ve got to be able to speak about it confidently and assertively. If you act meek and don’t speak with purpose, you’ll never get what you want. Bear in mind that you need to walk the fine line between sounding self-assured or arrogant and rude. You want to stand your ground and state your case, but you should not try to bully or force something that just may not be in the cards at the present moment.

 

Know what the baseline is. In order to negotiate something better, you’ve got to know where you stand. Walking into your supervisor’s office and demanding double pay to your current salary, although a wonderful thing to want, isn’t all that realistic. However, if you do feel as though you are underpaid, find out what other similar companies pay employees with a similar job description, professional experience, and background. Use that as the jumping point to begin your negotiation discussion.

 

Know what you want. Now that you know where to start your negotiations, figure out what it is exactly that you want to ask for. Perhaps you feel a salary increase is in order, or maybe you feel your workload should be distributed more evenly with the rest of your team. Whatever it is that you want to negotiate for, be sure you know exactly what you want to request and how you want to ask for it. Going into the discussion without knowing exactly what you wants leaves you unprepared and you’ll more than likely leave the table without winning your negotiation.

 

Justify your reasoning. In order to get what you want, you have to have more reasoning for it than simply wanting it. People will be more receptive to negotiate terms if there is evidence that supports your request. If you’re looking for increased pay, offer support for why you deserve it by stating your proven success record, cite projects that you were instrumental in completing, and give examples of the instances that you were able to obtain results.

 

Use your people skills. Although negotiations can be fraught with tension and disagreements, it’s still important to remain cordial, professional, and composed. Going on the defensive and coming out swinging with demands or verbal attacks will win you no points and may cost you the negotiation. Put your interpersonal skills to use and speak to others respectfully. Gaining their respect and framing the discussion as one that is mutually beneficial to all parties involved is going to get you closer to your desired outcome than any other negotiation tactic you can employ.

 

Know when to back down. Speaking confidently and assertively is a great start, but you also need to know when to allow others time to consider your points and examine what they can offer or counter with. Whether you do this by pausing at crucial moments in the discussion or by offering to revisit in a few days or a week’s time, this demonstrates your openness and fairness to the negotiation. Insisting the other parties make a decision right then and there may force them to automatically refuse you simply because they hadn’t had the time to properly weigh the talking points.

 

Agree on a timeline. Work on a timeline that everyone can agree and adhere to. Should the discussion require more time, schedule the next meeting within a week so that the topic is still fresh in everyone’s mind and the conversation can continue with as little hindrances as possible. If you need to talk to others in order to implement the new terms, schedule those meetings and discussions right away. Having a plan with realistic deadlines for targeted actions will keep everyone on track and accountable to their part of the agreement.

 

Negotiations are not the easiest discussions to have in any situation, but without the adequate skills to hold your own in these types of conversations, your professional career may stagnate. Practice makes perfect so take these simple and easy tips to heart when you next need to fight for what you believe is your due.