Negotiation Tactics

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Negotiation Tactics
Lisa J. Downs

• American Society for Training Development

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Common Tactics

• A variety of tactics, if used by either side in a
  negotiation, can help lead to mutually beneficial
  agreements.
• Each negotiation may require different tactics,
  depending on the parties and issues involved.

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Common Tactics

• Packaging (Bundling) Combining two or more items
  to add value to a deal, such as price, terms, and
  quantity
• Framing Positioning a solution in terms of a
  certain perspective, such as a gain versus a
  loss, or a positive versus a negative.

Source Gosselin, Tom. Practical Negotiating
Tools, Tactics and Techniques. Hoboken, New
Jersey John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2007.
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Common Tactics

• Balancing the Scales Illustrating what each
  party gives and receives to demonstrate a fair
  deal
• Objective Criteria Adding credibility by
  presenting data from an objective source

Source Gosselin, Tom. Practical Negotiating
Tools, Tactics and Techniques. Hoboken, New
Jersey John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2007.
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Common Tactics

• Scaling Asking the other side to rate the
  importance of an issue, that is, on a scale from
  1 to 5
• Examining Possibilities (What If?) Investigating
  alternatives by assessing what the other party
  will consider

Source Gosselin, Tom. Practical Negotiating
Tools, Tactics and Techniques. Hoboken, New
Jersey John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2007.
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Common Tactics

• Pleading Ignorance Asking for further
  explanation to buy time and clarify the
  counterparts position
• Patience Waiting it out and not allowing
  yourself to be pushed into a decision builds
  trust and disarms the other side

Source Gosselin, Tom. Practical Negotiating
Tools, Tactics and Techniques. Hoboken, New
Jersey John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2007.
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Deciding on Tactics

• Ask questions, such as these
• What is the level of trust?
• What time constraints, if any, exist?
• How open is everyone to different outcomes?
• What outcome is desired?

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Deciding on Tactics

• Think about the people involved and their styles.
• Anticipate the counterparts behavior.
• Decide how to respond to anticipated behaviors.