1000 Business Lessons Every Businessman Must Know

Chapter 110 Negotiation Skills: The Negotiation Strategy for a Smooth Negotiation (2)
An important reason why being wise and stupid is good for negotiation is that humans tend to help those who seem to be unintelligent or uninformed, rather than taking advantage of them.Of course, there are unsympathetic people who always want to take advantage of the weak, but most people want to compete with people they think are smart and help people they think are not smart.Therefore, the purpose of playing dumb is to distract the opponent's competitive spirit.How do you have the heart to fight people who ask for help in negotiating with you?If a person says, "I don't know. What do you think?" how can you make fun of such a person with competition?When faced with this situation, most people feel sorry for the other person, and they make way to help him.

(1) Competent negotiators know the importance of playing dumb, and they insist on the following:

(2) Buy time and carefully consider the whole matter, so that you can fully consider the danger of accepting the other party's conditions and the opportunity to make additional demands until you reach a conclusion;
(3) A decision should be postponed until consultation with the committee or board of directors;

(4) Buy time for legal or technical experts to review the plan;
(5) request other concessions;
(6) Putting pressure on the opponent without hostility;
(7) In the name of reviewing the negotiation record, buy time to consider the problem.

In a negotiation, you can use the following phrases to play dumb:
"Please say those idioms again, please?"

"I know you have said it several times, but for some reason, I didn't catch it clearly, please say it again, please?"

Doing so makes them think, "What an idiot I met this time." help from each other.

902. Use "Why" to Understand the Real Situation
"Why" is a question that explores the reason, and sometimes it is a further exploration after one party explains the reason.For example the following dialogue:

"I can only pay 10 yuan at most."

"how so?"

"If there are more, there will be no profit."

"why?"

So wait.

This way of asking "why" has a positive effect in the early stages of negotiation, and it can help us understand how the other party really evaluates things.At the same time, this is also part of a series of questions that we ask at a certain stage.

The countermeasure to this tactic is to provide only the briefest possible answer to the "why" of the other party's question, without a detailed explanation after the direct answer.Note, however, that in the early stages of the negotiation, the other party has the right to force us to answer what is beneficial to them.

903. Seemingly "Death Tribulation", You Can "Survive"

Survival thinking is to stay calm in a dangerous situation, seize opportunities, take advantage of favorable conditions and give full play to superb coping skills to get out of danger and turn danger into safety.Survival thinking is dialectical thinking in essence. To look at unfavorable factors dialectically in a difficult situation, to find advantages from disadvantages, and to turn bad things into good things is an important way to survive thinking.

Negotiators sometimes encounter difficult or embarrassing situations during negotiations. At this time, they adopt a roundabout way of thinking to survive and use their brains, which will often sweep away the embarrassing atmosphere and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

A manager of the Coca-Cola Company in the United States was in Beijing to discuss the establishment of a joint venture factory. He was staying at the Fragrant Hills Hotel in Beijing when he happened to meet a young Chinese calligrapher writing banners for foreign guests in the living room.Seeing this, the manager asked the young calligrapher to also write an advertisement for him, which read, Confucius said: "Coca-Cola is great!" The young calligrapher felt very embarrassed and didn't know what to do, so he had to ask his teacher for help .The teacher asked him to write it correctly, but after finishing writing, the teacher added another line: "The dream of an American friend." At this time, all the bystanders appreciated the teacher's wonderful writing, and the American manager was also very satisfied.

The young calligrapher above was really in an embarrassing situation at that time. He couldn't write well, and he couldn't write well. It seemed that "death" was inevitable.However, his teacher used the thinking of seeking survival, detoured from the side, and filled in the blanks, which not only met the requirements of American friends, but also avoided the desecration of the traditional culture of the motherland.

904. Crossing the Sea with Concealment and Reversing Passivity

The so-called deception is the practice of using people's observational illusions to show people false images and hide the truth.

Zhuge Liang, a wise man in the Three Kingdoms period, admired Huang Zhengying's talent when he was young, and made a lifelong private engagement with Huang Zhengying.But Huang's appearance is rather ugly, and his family disapproves of this marriage.Zhuge Liang's sister-in-law strongly urged Zhuge Liang to withdraw the marriage and choose another beautiful woman to marry.Zhuge Liang had no choice but to write a poem about retiring marriage to Huang, which reads:
Laughing that your looks don't match me,
In the future, I will pay Luan Fengzhi another day,
Forgive me for the difficulties in the world,
The marriage contract can be changed.

When the sister-in-law saw her, she was overjoyed and relieved.After a while, Zhuge Liang told his sister-in-law that he would get married in three days.Unexpectedly, three days later when the wedding dress was opened, the bride who appeared in front of his sister-in-law and everyone was still Huang Zhengying.The sister-in-law was very surprised: Why did the marriage that had already been withdrawn continue?It turns out that Zhuge Liang's poem about retiring the engagement that day was a hidden poem, and when you connect the words at the end of the sentence, it reads "I can't move my will".Huang Zhengying is so clever that he can understand it as soon as he reads it. He understands the pressure Zhuge Liang is under, and at the same time understands Zhuge Liang's intentions.It's just that Zhuge Liang's sister-in-law was deceived by Zhuge Liang's trick.

The use of deception in negotiations is not to deceive the opponent, but mainly out of strategic considerations.The use of this strategy is generally mainly to gain the initiative in the negotiation or to reverse the passive situation. It is two different things from deception with ulterior motives.

905. Hiding East and West, Hiding Intentions

In the negotiation process, sometimes the two parties need to be honest with each other, and the two sides make efforts to make the negotiation develop in a predetermined direction.But sometimes, because both parties want to safeguard their own interests, they have to hide some of their real intentions in the negotiation, and use some hypothetical target as a bait to confuse the other party, that is, adopt the tactics of smacking east and west.

Hitting east and west is the practice of diverting attention from one's true intention in order to achieve the predetermined negotiation goal.Specifically, it is to deliberately entangle in irrelevant matters, thereby distracting the other party, so that the other party can achieve its own negotiation goals without being too focused and stubbornly opposed.

A porcelain factory produces packaging bottles for the winery. After accounting at the end of the year, due to factors such as rising raw material prices, the unit price of each wine bottle should be increased.However, if you directly explain the price adjustment to the winery, you are worried that the winery will find another bottle supply factory, which will affect the production plan of the factory.After planning, the porcelain factory launched the following offensive against the winery: "Due to the combined effects of the state's control of credit, tightening money and rising prices, the current liquidity of the porcelain factory is insufficient, and production is difficult. I hope the winery can pay in advance. 1/3 of the purchase price of the wine bottle for one year. Otherwise, the production reduction of the porcelain factory will have a negative impact on the production of the winery." Naturally, the winery was unwilling to pay so much in advance, so it sent people to negotiate with the porcelain factory .In the end, the porcelain factory made a "concession" and appropriately increased the price of empty wine bottles.The winery thought it had saved a sum of money, but the porcelain factory achieved its goal of raising prices as it wished.

906. Desire to Capture, Lure the Enemy Deep

Playing hard to get is the practice of deliberately adopting various measures to make the opponent feel indifferent to the negotiation that is determined to win, so as to suppress the opponent's appetite for asking prices and ensure that one's own side can make a deal under the expected conditions.

In a negotiation, if the opponent comes prepared and aggressive, a smart negotiator generally does not have a direct conflict with the opponent, but tries to avoid the opponent's arrogance and dangerous moves.At this time, you can use the method of playing hard to get, and use your strength to lure the enemy into the deep method to paralyze the opponent, so that the opponent will fall into his trap when he loses vigilance.

Afanti and the king met, and the king asked Afanti if there were two things in front of you, one was gold and the other was virtue, which one would you like?

Avanti replied, "Of course I want gold!"

The king proudly said, "Afanti, you are such a villain! If it were me, I would choose virtue. Money is everywhere, but virtue is rare!"

Afanti replied calmly, "Yes, what a person wants is what he lacks the most, isn't it? We want what we lack, and we just want what we lack. !"

The king was left speechless.

The defense method used by Avanti to the king is just playing hard to get.

907. Give Enough Face and Reach an Agreement

The subject of negotiations is human beings, whose needs are multifaceted, and being respected and maintaining one's dignity is one of the most important contents.Therefore, negotiation is not only a process of pursuing material interests, but also a process of embodying human dignity, human ability, and human sense of accomplishment. If this aspect is desecrated, it is likely to affect the negotiation of material interests. Final result.

A shopping mall once had such a thing:

A customer returns clothes that have been worn for a while, and the salesperson sees the traces of washing. If he points it out directly, it is likely to cause an unpleasant and embarrassing scene.The astute salesperson said kindly: "I wonder if any member of your family sent this dress to the laundry by mistake. I remember that this happened to my family too. I piled up the clothes I just bought with other clothes. As a result, my wife didn't pay attention and threw both the new and old ones into the washing machine. Have you ever encountered a similar thing? Because this dress does have traces of washing, you just need to compare it with the price on sale It will be clear if you compare them with your new clothes."

The customer felt that she couldn't hide it, and the salesperson prepared an excuse for her inappropriate behavior, gave her face, and finally had to withdraw the return request convincingly.

The salesman in the above story, because of the use of appropriate negotiation techniques, avoided an imminent "war".

In order to achieve good negotiation results and enable both parties to reach an agreement more happily, the human factor cannot be ignored.Specifically, first of all, we must give the other party a sense of respect, and we must save face and steps for the opponent during specific negotiations. Only in this way will it be beneficial to solve the problem and reach a compromise.

908. Timely Rest and Adjust Strategy

Under normal circumstances, the suggestion to take a break will get a positive response from the other party.Rest is not only beneficial to one side, but also very beneficial to both parties and cooperation.Rest is positive. It gives both parties the opportunity to re-plan and even put forward new ideas and plans. It can bring the two parties together again in a new atmosphere and refocus their energy and attention.

Note the procedure for scheduling breaks:

(1) Explain the necessity of rest.For example: "I think, if we take a break now, it may be beneficial for both of us to negotiate well...".

(2) Briefly summarize the progress just now, and put forward new suggestions.For example: "We've figured out how to fix our wages and benefits issues, and I suggest you now think about what else to do...."

(3) Determine the time for rest.For example: "Is 10 minutes enough?"

(4) Avoid raising new issues.If the other party wants to bring up a new topic for discussion, ask him to speak after a break.When a break is needed, don't give the other person the opportunity to discuss new topics.

During the break, the issues to be considered by one’s own side should be clear. They should study how to proceed to the next stage of negotiation, summarize the issues under discussion, check the work of their own team or put forward some new ideas for the next negotiation.At the same time, we should consider how to resume the negotiation, consider the next negotiation plan and how to make an opening statement.It is best to re-enter the negotiating hall with new proposals.

909. Focus on the whole, seek unity,
Seeking consensus is a negotiating policy aimed at seeking the common interests of both parties and creating the greatest possible consistency.No matter at which stage the negotiation takes place, it is very important to seek agreement.

If the negotiating parties pursue the negotiating policy of seeking agreement, then the following skills should be paid attention to in the negotiation:
(1) Create a sincere, harmonious, relaxed and serious negotiation atmosphere.

(2) At the beginning of the negotiation, it is necessary to formulate an agenda agreed by both parties throughout the negotiation.

(3) Explore the possibility of cooperation between the two parties. At the beginning, they will make statements separately, and then work together to use their imagination and put forward constructive suggestions; but shortly after the opening, they should repeatedly review whether the negotiation approach they have adopted is feasible, so as to avoid Wishful thinking goes too far.

(4) In order to maintain vigorous energy during the negotiation process, it is necessary to summarize the progress made in a timely manner, constantly reiterate the agreed views of both parties, and strictly abide by the original plan.

(5) To provide a platform for good mutual communication.

(6) Before entering the negotiation, systematic and adequate preparations must be made.

(End of this chapter)