The Power of Negotiating

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 11:42am by William Quisenberry in Innovation

Any entrepreneur who plans on succeeding in their respected field must always be willing to embrace the importance of negotiating.

If I was going to personally define what it means to negotiate I would say it is “basically the art of discussing terms of business back and forth between at least two parties, until some form of agreement is met.”

Many confuse negotiating with sales and while a large portion of sales does usually include being able to negotiate, negotiating doesn’t necessarily always include sales.

Young entrepreneurs need to not only learn and perform negotiating tactics while they are closing deals by offering others their services or product, but they also need to understand that they must negotiate with others concerning their business’s operations, because this will vastly decrease expenses, time, and unwanted terms.

For instance, it’s imperative to discuss terms with contractors and usually you must attempt to negotiate a lower rate for services and make sure the deal is tailored to fit your specific needs.

There is no need in taking the first contractor that you meet and there is also no need in taking a plan that doesn’t help your firm and isn’t priced to your specific budget.

Besides negotiating with contractors for those of you who are in retail, you must discuss terms and negotiate rates with suppliers. You have to negotiate terms with your own partners and it’s also important to negotiate with financiers or investors.

You must understand that you may not always get the price or terms that you are exactly looking for, however by being willing to at least stand up and speak out concerning the deal, you still may end up making the terms much closer to what you were expecting.

Remember you’re not trying to stiff the other party out of anything or selfishly go into a negotiation session. The best deal is one where both parties leave the table satisfied and happy.

If negotiating is something you feel that you need work with, you can find books, home study courses and even seminars on the subject.

Many of the top negotiators in big business usually agree that negotiation skills are almost something that comes natural to certain individuals, but I feel that it can definitely be learned. I think many people say that negotiating skills are born into the genes, because most of the best negotiators usually have a lot of charisma and obviously this is a trait that usually is sewn into somebody’s personality.

A large part of negotiating thrives around communication abilities, so I think that it’s also very important to learn “Interpersonal Communication” skills and also read up on “Corporate Communication;” these areas will not only teach you how to effectively negotiate, but also how to communicate and interact with others around you successfully, both in and outside of business.

At the end of the day, if you find that you are suffering or lacking the negotiation skills that your firm needs, you always have to remember to find somebody who has those proper skills and try to fill the void by adding them to your team.

Many attorneys usually include negotiating contracts on your company’s behalf into their range of services. Attorneys are usually some of the best negotiators and if you can find a really good one that is willing to make calls here and there and even attend meetings to negotiate on your behalf that would be absolutely wonderful.

The downside to this benefit, however, is many attorneys will usually construct a hefty bill for offering these services. Like I always recommend when searching for attorneys, unless you know one personally go with the younger attorneys who don’t have a large clientele yet.

These younger attorneys usually will display and possess many of the same qualities, talents, and abilities as older attorneys, also they aren’t as stuck up, they’re usually much more hungry and fired up, they have more time to devote to your business because they don’t have as many distracting clients, and younger attorneys will be willing to take considerably lower fees than other attorneys because they usually are in debt from law school and also because they are trying to get a new firm off the ground.

Regardless if you have to buckle down and teach yourself how to discuss business terms and reach agreements better, or if you hire the services of an attorney or business consultant, make sure you have the power of negotiation on your side, one way or another.

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