The questions you should ask yourself before negotiating!

It's a cliché, but taking the time to prepare properly before sitting down at the negotiating table is key to a successful outcome. As a minimum, ask yourself - and come up with answers - to the following questions:

- What is my goal(s) for the negotiation?

- What supporting arguments can I use to achieve this goal?

- What would be the likely response to these arguments from my counterpart and how can I respond to them?

- If I imagine myself in my counterpart's shoes, how would he/she answer the questions above?

The last two points will of course be your best guess, but it is still important to evaluate and prepare for what your counterpart will argue.

If you have clear answers to the above questions, you will be much less stressed going into a negotiation and you will appear much more confident as a negotiator.

With the holiday season just around the corner, these posts will take a little break but they will be back again in August. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful and relaxing holiday!

See our course on negotiation