You're not born a negotiator...
Some people are convinced that negotiation cannot be learned, that it is a gift: "one is born a negotiator...". Still others believe that only practice and experience can make a good negotiator. Isn't the saying "practice makes perfect"? It certainly does. While there's no denying the role of temperament and experience in the art of negotiation, these conditions are no longer sufficient for successful negotiation. Why do we need to learn how to negotiate?
Negotiation has become a way of life.
Every desire to be satisfied and every need that can be met represents an opportunity to negotiate. Every day in the world, billions of negotiations take place: ministers negotiate their budget; trade unions negotiate working conditions; employees negotiate their pay rise; private individuals negotiate their computer equipment, their furniture, their car, their property, their bank loan, etc.; don't even children negotiate their pocket money or the authorization to go out with their friends? Life is a huge negotiating table. As a result, everyone has a more or less empirical knowledge of negotiation, and is therefore better equipped to defend their interests.
Competition and the standardization of products and services accentuate the complexity of commercial relationships.
In the 50s, it was not uncommon for a private individual to wait two years for his or her ordered vehicle to be delivered: do you think it was then a question of haggling over price? Today, with standardized production and a plethora of products, services and brands on offer, the task has become more difficult for salespeople. They can no longer simply extol the virtues of their product to close a sale, but must call on more complex persuasive resources.
The balance of power gives consumers the upper hand.
Courted from all sides, with outbidding of offers and advantages of all kinds, consumers use their power to haggle and negotiate at every turn, sometimes even just for the fun of it, and in any case for the pleasure of exercising their power! The art of negotiating and negotiation strategies are therefore becoming indispensable in business relationships.
In negotiation, form plays as important a role as substance.
Isn't it more gratifying to obtain a favor or a good after some effort? What value do we place on easy victories? Human beings are such that they always attach more importance and value to what will challenge their intelligence and merit than to what is given to them. If properly mastered, the negotiation process can become a weapon of massive persuasion!