12 WAYS TO BECOME A BETTER NEGOTIATOR

1. Learn everything you can about the situation, the issues, and the participants.


2. Understand all the participants’ needs and interests.


3. Set reasonable goals for what you hope to achieve during the negotiation, and rank them by priority.


4. Work within a range that includes minimums, targets, and maximums.


5. Anticipate the other parties’ comments and prepare your responses.


6. Remain calm, pleasant, and unflappable.


7. Build trust by clearly stating what your client wants and respecting what the other parties want.


8. Create an atmosphere of joint problem solving that focuses on the benefits to all parties.


9. Remain flexible and open to a range of options.


10. When other people speak, listen attentively and hear them out fully.


11. Use empathic comments and sympathetic gestures and facial expressions to smooth over difficult situations.


12. Always underpromise and overdeliver.



Sources:"Making the Deal: Quick Tips for Successful Negotiating" by George Hartman (Wiley & Sons, 1992); "Power Real Estate Negotiation" by William H. Pivar and Richard W. Post (Longman, 1990)