One way to double your probability of success during negotiations is to use negotiation techniques. If we want to negotiate effectively, techniques are one of the proven methods we can practice. To understand the role of negotiation techniques, let us take a close look at how people influence each other.
Why are techniques possible?
Negotiations, like communication in general, are a sequence of human interactions. Their purpose is to bring us to an agreement, which will only be reached when the other party feels they can accept the terms.
For anyone to accept our terms, that person must either perceive them as their own ideas or become convinced of their merit. In either case, communication is essential.
When people communicate, numerous mechanisms come into play. Sciences such as sociology, psychology, and social psychology study how these mechanisms work. Thanks to scientific research, we already know a great deal about human nature, and this knowledge can be analyzed to extract natural mechanisms and learn to apply them intentionally.
The human brain cannot tolerate a vacuum. This is a mechanism. When there is a lack of informational input, our brain creates the missing information. This explains, for example, why we answer questions. The brain cannot tolerate leaving them unanswered.
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What are negotiation techniques?
Techniques are mechanisms activated deliberately. People generally activate mechanisms every day, often without being aware of it. Negotiators learn to activate mechanisms at the right moments to increase their effectiveness. Most techniques aim to influence the decision-making process of the other person.
Expanding on the earlier brain example, a negotiation technique might look like this: a real estate agent describes properties in a way that stimulates the imagination but without details. This creates empty space, and our brain fills it with details of what we like, creating a visualization of our ideal apartment. This allows the agent to more easily discover what we are truly looking for, while also stimulating our appetite to make a purchase.
The duality of negotiation techniques
Negotiation techniques are both good and bad:
- Good: because they generally work, thereby increasing our effectiveness. They are based on mechanisms that naturally occur in human behavior.
- Bad: because it is difficult to determine where manipulation begins. We can assume that using techniques is justified when the outcomes will be beneficial to the other party.
However, this raises a question: how can we determine whether something is beneficial for someone else? The answer will always be merely an opinion.
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Summary
Negotiation techniques are tools that leverage how reality works. If we are striving for what is good for the other party, they can help us achieve success in business negotiations. At the same time, we should keep in mind that we will never be able to determine with absolute certainty what is truly good for someone else.
Quick win: Before your next negotiation, choose one technique (e.g., open-ended questions, silence after a proposal, anchoring) and apply it consciously. A single technique, used at the right moment, can change the course of the entire conversation.
