Doing Research For Negotiations

One of the biggest and most common mistakes people make when preparing to negotiate, is failing to research who they will be negotiating with.

Even if you are negotiating with a large corporation, that negotiation will still be carried out by people. You should therefore make it a top priority to find out as much as you can about them before you begin to negotiate.

Do Basic Research Before A Negotiation

To start with you should find out the name of the person or persons you will be negotiating with, and their position within the company. This can easily be done by asking for a person’s name, or requesting their business card.

Once you have someone’s name and title, you can quickly gain some valuable information on them by doing a little bit of research before the negotiation begins.

For example, if you know someone’s position within a company you will know how important they are within that company and some idea as to the power that person has to make decisions.

Once you know a persons name, you can look them up in the phone book or on the Internet. This can tell you the neighbourhood the person you will be negotiating with lives in, the church they go to, where they are likely to shop and where their children go to school.

All of this information can then be used to create rapport later on when you begin the negotiation process. It will also help you to tailor your negotiation tactics so that they are more suited to the person you will be negotiating with.

The aim however is not to talk about everything you have discovered, but rather to increase your general knowledge of that person so you know exactly who you are negotiating with.

If you find any skeletons in their closet, it is generally best not to mention such information.

If however that information casts doubt on the upcoming deal, then you may choose to use that information by pulling out of the negotiation process entirely.

How Important Is The Negotiation To You?

How much time you spend researching a person’s background, generally reflects how important that negotiation is to you. But it can also reveal how important the negotiation is to the other side.

For example, if you discover you will be negotiating with the CEO of a company, then you will know that the negotiation is very important to the other side.

As a result, this is likely to be a big deal with long term future implications.

Who Are You Really Negotiating With?

Apart from knowing someone’s name and title, there are several other things you should try to discover when carrying out research for a negotiation.

Authority

Does the negotiator have the power to make decisions and close the deal? Or will they have to defer to someone higher up?

If you are dealing with low level members of a company, you may be wasting your time if they don’t have the power to do anything.

Whenever possible, always try to negotiate with the people who have the authority to make decisions.

Clients

Who does the person you are negotiating with have to answer to?

If you are able to make the client happy, then your chances of a successful negotiation will dramatically increase.

Their Interests

In almost all negotiations, the person is interested in getting more money.

If you can find a way to fulfil such interests, you will find the negotiation process a whole lot easier.