The One-Minute Negotiation Planner
In my work with clients, I'm often asked, "What's the most common mistake you see in business negotiations?" Good question! And the answer is the same every time: lack of planning. Many people resist planning like the plague, and they pay dearly for that resistance because this is perhaps the most crucial factor in negotiation success.
If I had to bet on the outcome of a negotiation between a naturally skilled negotiator who hasn't planned well and someone who has only average skills but has done a great job of preparing for the negotiation, my money would ride with the planner every time.
In negotiation, NOTHING takes the place of planning.
I want to introduce you to a "one-minute negotiation planner" that you can do in your head in a minute. It's great for those occasions when you are ambushed and find yourself in a negotiation that you didn't see coming.
Here's how the "one-minute negotiation planner" works:
First, draw a circle about the size of a half-dollar – and out beside it write –" Ask for this.
Below that draw a circle about the size of a quarter and put "Be elated with this"
Below that, draw a circle about the size of a nickel, and put, "Most probable outcome."
Below that, draw a circle about the size of a dime, and put, "Less than hoped, but acceptable."
And below that, draw a circle about the size of an English pea, and write – "Walk-away point."
You can do this in a minute, but it gives you a framework for a negotiation that's pretty good, and it can keep you out of much trouble. Your first thought will often be the "most probable outcome," and a considerable percentage of your negotiations will probably end up in that area.
You may ask, "Why have the "ask for this" category so high if you never get it. The answer is twofold: 1) now and again, you may get it, and it doesn't take many of those to make a significant difference in your life (someone has to win the lottery, and you don't have to win it a lot to matter!) Secondly, if you ask for a lot, it gives you room to give. After all, negotiation is a give-and-take game. If you start at the most probable outcome level, it gives you no room to come down, and the other party views you as rigid, unyielding, unwilling to work together. Some negotiations will end up in the "be elated with this" category – actually, about the same percentage as end up in the "less than hoped, but acceptable" category.
A tiny percentage ends up in the "ask for this category," and the "walk away point" means just what it says. You have to have a "walk-away point" in a negotiation. As obvious as that sounds, I'll bet you've run across situations that were so out of bounds that you had to wonder, "Who made this deal – what were they thinking?" When you find a deal like that, someone didn't have a walk-away point. They probably started in a weak position, and then as the negotiation progressed, it got worse. They gave away a little here and a little there, and before they knew it, the agreement was so lopsided they should have walked away, but they didn't have the guts to do it. You could chart these outcomes on a bell graph, and it would work pretty well.