The Art of Negotiation

Ah, everyone loves negotiations, except they don’t, they hate it, and they should, it’s hard. Negotiating is an art form, and the people who do it best tend to go very far in the business world. This being said, it’s not an impossible skill to learn, you don’t have to be good enough to negotiate peace treaties, just good enough to get that raise. The power is with the employees in 2022, so get negotiating.

The Art that is Negotiation

Anchor

Anchoring is when you set the terms first. You anchor your position, for example, when negotiating salary, put the number down first. “I expect to make around 38 to 40k per year”, you have now anchored your salary in the 38 to 40k range, no guarantee you will get it, but it gives the other party less power. ALWAYS anchor high, if you start with a low anchor, that’s it, you’re stuck.

Big Items first

Start with what you really want first, your big priorities, get those out of the way first, then go down the list.

Know your worth, and back it up

Asking for 40k a year is fine if you can prove you are worth it. Walk into that room with the exact reasons, with examples on why you are worth every penny of that 40k. If you can’t answer this without a slip, you clearly aren’t worth it.

Forget your last salary

Do not let the other party know your previous salary, it gives them too much power in the negotiation. Try and keep that a secret, because you want to make more.

Know your bottom line

Go in with a set bottom. The absolute lowest offer you would take and stick with it. You will regret taking a lower offer in the long run, if you know your worth you shouldn’t take anything less.

Don’t stop at NO.

Cliché, but do not take NO for an answer. Keep the negotiation going and convince them why they should say yes.

We at DataTech Business Centre hope that these tips will help you in your future negotiations, for a more detailed breakdown, check out the great book “The Art of Negotiation”