PUBLIC MARKS with tag negociation

Sometimes, a weekend with friends turns out to be a lot more than just catching up and good times. Last week, over a 6 hour period, 4 of us found ourselves in the middle of a coaching session about negotiation techniques. One of us was about to go into one of the most important meetings he’s ever had but with a challenging goal: to negotiate the price of something he wasn’t expecting to sell… until he got a (un?)reasonable offer. A corporate finance guy, a tax specialist and myself (yes, no lawyers!) started “prepping” him about the various aspects of deal making and, of course, strategizing. Although his situation was very particular, every negotiation has a common set of rules. One, the hardest hurdle during any type of negotiation is, well, to negotiate and make sure all parties stay around the table. Two, there are so many different ways to fail, we tend to forget that we are the person we should be worried about, not not so much the party in front. Because we can negotiate many things in our personal or professional lives, all of which do not necessarily have to have a monetary value per say, I’ll illustrate the follow tips assuming a price negotiation. Replace it with whatever you’re going to go for! Remember, there are 3 parts to a negotiation: I- Before anyone is around the table; setting the stage II- During the talks; getting your points across – winning the most important ones and III- Aftermath; making sure you have agreed to something that you’ll be comfortable with