Realize every confrontation, every interaction when dealing with others in life, is a negotiation. Some are just more intense in nature, or has a monetary value attached to it. We negotiate to get a raise in allowance as children, we negotiate bad driving in traffic.
We negotiate with our spouse for favours, our customers over pricing or complaints. We’ll negotiate with our staff for more effort, we haggle to buy that new car.
Our entire life is centred around dealing. So to become successful, what you need is to learn how to negotiate better and more efficiently. This particular skill however, always doesn’t come easily.
This since any negotiation, is usually an experience that involves some type of conflict, involving motivation and emotion.
Once you begin to haggle with someone over price, you’ll initially need to reach a reconcile, to pay or get paid the agreed upon price.
One mistake, becomes if you push forward too far, the negotiation may potentially break down.
You may even end up empty handed or worse, humiliated. Negotiation is always a gamble, and any gamble is a risk.
The Two Approaches To Negotiating
One thing master negotiators have in common, those who closes the “deals” more often, is the ability to remain focused on their end target at all times. This regardless of the risks involved.
For those who win consistently, this based on research, has shown there’s a process known as “promotion” focus.
What Is “Promotion Focused” Negotiating
These individuals who are promotion focused, think about their end goals as well as the opportunities which they need to gain. This to advance or to achieve, or to be better off than they currently are.
Once we think about our goals as potential gains, we’ll then automatically become more comfortable with risk, often without even realizing it.
The focus is it’s never personal, as there’s less sensitivity about what could potentially go wrong.
Then There’s “Prevention Focused” Negotiation
The individuals who are prevention focused on the other hand, will think about their goals more in terms of what they’ll potentially lose.
The concern is what the end result or potential damage will be, if they don’t win the negotiation.
What they want, is to remain as safe or neutral as possible, while keeping everything running smoothly as possible.
When prevention focused, we become a lot more conservative while trying to avoid any type of risk or confrontation.
Same Goal Different Viewpoints
These are the two different methods, on how we’ll approach the same goal that needs to be resolved. How we approach it, reveals and impacts everything about us.
This being our strengths and our weaknesses, the strategies we use, and whatever it is motivates us.
When the goal happens to be paying the lowest price, or to get a bigger raise, our method effects the way we negotiate.
Under any negotiating process, the more the promotion focused individual is, the more likely they’ll reach their targeted goal, once the negotiation process is over.
For the prevention focused individuals, there’s too much worry being placed on not winning the negotiation, leaving the person more susceptible towards a less advantageous outcome.
How To Become A Promotion Focused Negotiator
You’re either a natural prevention focused negotiator, or you become prevention focused. This once you’re faced with the uncertainties of what the negotiation process involves.
You can alter your mindset however. You can become more promotion focused, whenever you want to be.
All that’s needed is taking a moment to focus on what you need to gain, what you’re wanting to achieve, while banishing all the thoughts of what you might lose.
For instance, to place yourself in a promotion focus frame of mind, take a few minutes to realize the end result. Focus on the “prize” you will potentially gain in the negotiation, and not what you can lose.
Assess what the negotiation behavior of the other party is, and the outcome you hope to achieve during the process. Decide how can you promote these behaviors, more efficiently.
Know The Process
Take a moment by listing everything you hope to gain, and how you’ll benefit once you succeed. Review this list, just before the negotiation process begins.
More importantly, shut out any of the thoughts regarding what could go wrong, by refusing to give them your attention.
With a bit of training and practice, this promotion focused method will become easier and should eventually become automatic.
Winning negotiations can then become more second nature to you, once you think about your end goals the right way.
Making It A “Win-Win” Process
What being promotion focused does, is it helps you get a bigger piece of the pie, usually more than who you’re negotiating against will.
Also, there doesn’t always need to be a winner and a loser. The best compromise is a “Win-Win” situation.
If there are multiple issues involved, then there’s the possibility of the various elements to become beneficial for both parties.
This since both sides, may not prioritize each of the outstanding issues the same way. One side will usually give up what they consider their lower priority issues.
Then both can usually somehow reach a compromise, that gets what each other wants. All you’re doing, is just making the pie bigger.
It’s also not surprising who benefits the most under these situations, once both sides are faced with a multitude of issues to be discussed.
The promotion focused individuals, generally reaches their desired outcomes close to 70% percent of the time. This compared to 30% percent of the time for the prevention focused.