Mastering delivery in negotiation

Why Mastering delivery in negotiation is key

Negotiation is a way of life especially since we use it in our day to day activities like deciding where to go for dinner or in business situation where we have to figure out what to procure and why.

While there are a number of aspects that lead to your ability to succeed in negotiation, the need for mastering delivery in negotiation is one of those abilities high on that list. How you say something in negotiation is very important because there are a number of moments when there will be a huge discrepancy between ‘what’ you say and ‘how’ you say it.

For instance

You could, during negotiation, ask the other party, “what is your suggestion?” Depending on how the question is delivered, it could sound like a genuine question or the other party may think you are calling them unreasonable.

What if your voice is naturally assertive?

While reading some negotiation books may give you the impression that being assertive is a means of succeeding when negotiating you have to understand that its always going to be a choice between short term results against long term relationship. The party with whom you are negotiating isn’t comfortable being on the receiving end of your assertive voice and their instinct will be to resist.

You should always, as a default, use your playful voice. This is the kind of voice that suggest to the other party that you want to work with them and that you are not trying to back them in a corner.

Supposing it’s a non-negotiable term?

Not everything in a business deal is always up from discussion. They are times when you have a clause in a contract or a level in your production cost that you cannot go below or change. This is where your analyst voice helps out when delivering a point during the negotiation.

For instance, when saying something like, “…Reducing our production cost by 40% will affect our quality so…we are not…changing…that cost” the analyst voice becomes handy

Analyst voice is a declarative voice, but with a downward slow soothing tone, which lacks warmth. You should ensure that when you are using this voice you are certain that whatever you are talking about is something that cannot be changed otherwise the other party will just question your integrity.

Conclusion

The point is, you could master all the techniques in negotiation, but by failing in mastering delivery in negotiation all you will be doing during the process is sounding mechanical and that is a key to failure