Groundwork

The success of a negotiation often depends on the amount of groundwork that was done beforehand. By fully understanding who you are negotiating with, what they are looking for, and how everyone can get what they want, you can formulate a negotiation strategy with a very high chance of success.

When doing groundwork for a negotiation, it is often far more important to think of the right questions than to find the right answers, as questions tend to remain the same over time, but answers might change at a moment's notice depending on what direction the negotiation takes.

To find the right questions, we can begin by asking ourselves, "who, what, when, where, why, and how" style questions. For example:

Who will I be negotiating with? Who are the decision makers?

What am I negotiating for? What am I willing to accept?

When will the negotiation take place? When do I need to have a deal signed?

Where will the negotiation take place? Where will everyone be seated?

Why would someone agree to my terms? Why wouldn't they agree to my terms?

How should I respond to objections? How can I persuade them to agree to my terms?

Figuring out who the decision makers are is a critical question to have answered before the negotiation, as otherwise you may be negotiating with the wrong people if they can't make any final decisions about whether or not to agree to your terms.

Knowing why someone would or would not agree to your terms typically depends on the amount of leverage you have in a negotiation. If you have all the leverage, then that's why they would agree to the deal. If you have no leverage at all, you will have to get very creative in thinking up reasons as to why your terms would even be considered.

It might be argued that finding out how to persuade someone to agree to your terms, as well as knowing how to respond to any objections that the other party might have, is where the true power of doing groundwork in preparation for a negotiation lies. If you already know what someone's objections will be, and already have persuasive arguments ready to address those objections, you will have a much better chance of overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of reaching a deal.

There are generally two approaches to finding answers to questions before a negotiation: doing research, and talking to people.

Research is the bedrock of doing groundwork, but people tend to invest too little time researching, preferring instead to "wing it," on the day of the negotiation. The reality is, the more complex the deal being negotiated, the more time is needed for research.

For example, if you had to negotiate with a caterer over the price of lunch for an office party, you should know in advance the menu you want, how much the caterer typically charges, and what their competition would charge for the same menu. You might contact other caterers to get competing bids, and then bring those bids into your negotiation.

While the research for negotiating a lower price on catered lunches might only take an afternoon, if you were negotiating a multinational climate change accord at the United Nations, you would need to give yourself a lot more time than an afternoon. For such an important negotiation, months of advanced preparation would be both appropriate and advisable.

In addition to doing research, you should also talk to people, as you might be surprised as to how much insight you can gain by having the right conversation with the right people.

For example, even if you could not speak to a new customer before a negotiation, you might be able to speak to existing customers, to get a better sense of what they do or do not like about your products, with the hope that the more conversations you have with existing customers, the more prepared you will be to answer questions from potential new customers.

As another example, if you were negotiating for a deadline extension to your team's project, you might ask around to find out if other projects have asked for extensions, if those extensions were granted, and how long of an extension was granted. Then, if during the negotiation you were told you were asking for too much additional time, you might point out that other projects that were further behind schedule were granted extensions longer than what you were asking for.

In talking to people you should also try to get insights into what the people you are negotiating with want, versus what they need. Understanding wants and needs allows you to adjust your approach as the various items up for negotiation are discussed.

For example, if you know your customer wants a lower price, but they need a product to be installed by a specific date, you know that they can compromise on price, but they cannot compromise on date. You might then agree fully to their installation date in the negotiation, and with the goodwill you gain from agreeing to deliver on their schedule, you can spend the remaining time trading the goodwill for a higher price.

Whatever methods you employ in your research, or however long you spend talking to people, your goal should be to start a negotiation feeling confident that you will not be blindsided by something someone says, not be caught off-guard by a question you should know the answer to, or not know what to say if someone raises an objection. You should never feel nervous in a negotiation, but if you do, it might only mean that you are unprepared, and need to spend more time doing groundwork.