Changing your life is a choice…..you choose to be, and where the present circumstances is not as a result of your choice, you can still choose to remain or strive to move to another level. Everything takes decision. So today, you can choose to brush up your skill in negotiation to acquire whatsoever you need or want in life.


Whether you want to or not, everyday you negotiate for something. From buying your daily needs to purchasing or selling of ostentatious goods. You negotiate with your spouse, and many atimes your kids negotiate with you.
Every day we involve in as many as possible scenarios of negotiation either as a marketer, a realtor, a market woman, a job seeker, an entrepreneur, client executives, medical practitioner, a chain store or local food sellers. Negotiation Skill is a skill that you need to survive in today’s world.

Today, we are not talking about negotiating for the release of kidnapped victims or the settling of dispute between two aggrieved communities BUT the negotiation skills needed as a buyer or seller in today’s tough market.

So what is negotiation Skill?
Negotiation skills are qualities that allow two or more parties to reach a compromise. These are often soft skills and include abilities such as communication, persuasion, planning, strategizing and cooperating. Understanding these skills is the first step to becoming a stronger negotiator. The skills you’ll need depend on your environment, your intended outcome and the parties involved.

Now that you know that your negotiation skill depends on the environment that you are, are you at the Mushin market in Lagos or Sabo- gari market in Kano? Are you at the Supermarket? Are you before a new employer for a new job or negotiating a pay rise? Are you in a meeting with a seller or buyer of a new/old three story building of block of 6 flats? Or probably before your future in-laws negotiating a reduction in the contents of the bride price list?
Whatever your environment is, you must have your intending outcome at the back of your mind. That is how you want the final outcome to be.
Those who daily use this art of negotiation know what they are doing right from the beginning of the conversation…..and their intention is to get the best out of every deal.

Are you naturally born with this skill?
Nobody is born with this skill, and we learn them consciously or unconsciously by our art, mostly by the nature of our daily events. A salesman is expected to have this skill to increase the odds of getting his/her clients or customers to buy more at his best price. Negotiating is all getting more from others without them having the feelings of being a loser.

So how do you do that? By mastering the win-win sales Negotiation. This is a creative way that both you and the buyer walk away from the negotiating table feeling that you both won. The skill to achieve this defines you as an experience and powerful sale negotiator. You leave the buyer having the feelings that he had won and you as a salesman also smiling to the bank. You leave your buyer with the impression of being ready to do business with you again. It’s a win-win negotiation skill which you can learn.
Well for the reason of limited time frame and saving you the headache of reading a long epistle of write-up, I will only limit the everything to just one approach to getting the best out of every negotiation.


Ask for More Than You Expect to Get.
The first rule is to ask the buyer for more than you expect to get. The obvious reason is that it gives you some negotiating room. You can always come down, but you can never go up on price. What you should be asking from your buyer should be your MPP-your maximum plausible position. This is the most that you can ask for and still have the buyer see some plausibility in your position. The less you know about the other side, the higher your initial position should be.


Below are the five reasons why you should always ask for more than you expected to get;
1. It gives you some negotiating room. You can always come down but you can never go up.
2. You might just get it.
3. It raises the perceived value of your product or service.
4. It avoids deadlocks caused by the conflicting egos of the negotiators.
5. It creates a climate where the other side can win.

Never Say Yes to the First Offer
The reason that you should never do this is that it automatically triggers two thoughts in the buyer's mind.
1. I could have done better
2. Something must be wrong."
The danger of going first is that you could start with a price that is less than what the other side was willing to pay.


FLINCHING
Ever heard of the word FLINCHING or use it before, I bet you, you have used it couple of time before, probably today you just used it.
Imagine you walking to the local market in your area to buy meat, you approach the meat seller and ask for the price, and immediately he told you that it cost N6,000, you shouted “WHAT”…. Then you just flinched.
Power Sales Negotiators know that you should always Flinch, which means to react with shock and surprise at the buyer's proposals.
Do not dismiss Flinching as childish or too theatrical until you'd had a chance to see how effective it can be. The effectiveness of Flinching would always surprise you, when you master it and intentionally use it to your advantage in negotiating for a better offer. Even if you're not face-to-face with the buyer, you should still gasp in shock and surprise, because telephone flinches can also be very effective.

Nice write up