Is your company gearing up for a big negotiation? Perhaps you're in the process of finalising a new deal or hammering out the details of an important contract. In any case, it's essential to have the best tools and techniques at your disposal. At our global headliner event **Victoria Medvec  High Stakes Negotiation** , we learned the negotiation frameworks Dr Medvec teaches to clients like Google, CISCO and IBM.

**Negotiation traps you might fall into**

A world-renowned expert on negotiation skills, Dr Victoria Medvec, author of _Negotiate Without Fear_ and CEO of Medvec and Associates, says too many people negotiate the wrong deal.

- They negotiate what is **standard** or typical.

- They fail to establish **ambitious goals** for the negotiation.

- They focus on highly **quantified** issues in the negotiation.

- They tell no story, or the **wrong story** , in the negotiation.

- They use a **single offer** when negotiating. They do not get the benefits of a multiple offer strategy.

**Dont negotiate what is standard or typical**

Most companies stick to what they know when they are negotiating, says Victoria. For example, a consulting firm sticks to negotiating on **fees, scope of work** , and **staffing.**

If youre an employee, it is usually **salary** or a **promotion**.

If youre a customer, it is most often **price**.

That's because we focus on what is important to us. Too often we overlook issues that are important to the other side.

**What are your objectives in this negotiation?**

Think carefully about **your objectives** for the negotiation. You need to particularly focus on the importance of including issues that a\) address the **other sides pressing business needs** b\) **build the relationship** with the others side c\) **differentiate** yourself, your company, or your product, and d\) **maximise** your own outcome.

Most of us would like to have relationships with senior leaders. We need to lay down the breadcrumbs to create the pathway into the C-suite leadership, says Victoria.

**Differentiate yourself as a buyer or supplier**

If youre a CEO you should have your team differentiating your services in **every** customer interaction. What is unique about what you offer, that **the other side cares about**? If you have an in-house design team, make every negotiable issue come back to  **because we have** an in-house design team. Offer to deliver a customised design in a few weeks  **because we have** an in-house design team. Offer design modifications  **because we have** an in-house design team. See the pattern?

**Prepare, prepare, prepare**

Dr Medvec says too few people prepare before they negotiate. You should get your hands on as much **information** as you can about the company you are negotiating with. Look at analyst calls, presentations from investor conferences, or look up the company online. This helps you understand your **other sides pressing needs**. It also gives you your biggest source of power in any negotiation: knowing if the other side has **strong alternative options** to your product, service or business.

**Finding their BATNA weakness**

You will be in better negotiating position if you know what youre up against. This is called BATNA and it stands for **Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement**. Its often also called Plan B $and C and D$. Its also how you assess the strength of the other sides negotiating power. How strong is their BATNA/Plan B? Who else would they sell to? Lease to? Buy from? If their BATNA is low, you have better negotiating power.

Your goal should be based on the **weakness of the other sides options;** that is, the weakness of their BATNA. _Negotiate Without Fear_ lays out examples of the BATNA Analysis Tool you can use, a series of questions that score your own, and the other sides, BATNA.

**Here are a few example questions:**

- What are the suppliers **alternatives** to selling to you?

- How strong are your **relationships** with the customers senior leaders?

- How **critical are you** to the customers core products?

- What are the customers **switching costs** if they leave you?

- Does the supplier already sell to **your competitors**?

Use RFPs $Request for Proposals$ as BATNA generation tools. They help to raise your BATNA $the number of your Plan Bs$. The objectives of RFPs should be to create competition, **learn about alternatives** , gain information, and select who should advance to the negotiation phase, not to select a winner.

**Set ambitious goals**

Many negotiators use cost plus as the outcome they drive for in a negotiation. But people who set ambitious goals get a better outcome. Cost plus just **isnt ambitious enough** , says Victoria Medvec, and can mean you leave money on the table. She says that costs should drive your bottom line, but should have nothing to do with your goal. Your goal should be based entirely on the other side and the weakness of their BATNA $their alternatives or Plan B$.

**Speak first in the negotiation**

In _Negotiate Without Fear_ Victoria lists her Five Fs to become a fearless negotiator.

1 **. Go FIRST.** Research shows the person who offers first does best. You get the anchoring advantage, and you get to frame the discussion. You also get to set the table with the right issues.

2\. **FOCUS on them**. Craft a rationale that shows how uniquely you meet their pressing needs.

3\. **FRAME your offer** correctly: Highlight loss words $eg. risk, cost, exposure$ to move them off the status quo to try something new, and gain words $benefit, improve, value$ to maintain the status quo.

4\. **Be FLEXIBLE** : leave yourself room to concede and use multiple option offers to reframe the discussion to how $not if$ we will work together.

5 **. No FEEBLE offers**. Dont say Can you give us a better price? Make a clear, specific ask.

**No single issues, go for Multiple Equivalent Simultaneous Offers**

Theres a great way to look more reasonable, sincere, credible, cooperative, and flexible in a negotiation. Its always using **MESO: Multiple Equivalent Simultaneous Offers**. Starting a negotiation with three offers $call them options to your customer$ will engage the other side in discussion and allows you to communicate a more compelling message about how your business addresses the other sides pressing business needs. People love choice. The three offers should have relatively the **same value to you** , so they are considered equivalent, but it is likely the other side will value them quite differently. Put storytelling issues $customisation, industry updates, order from a call centre$, tradeoff $volume discount, length of contract, payment terms$ and contentious issues $price$ in each one of your offers.

**Think of a train, and their needs as the engine**

Dr Medvec asks us to imagine negotiation as a train, with the engine being the other partys **pressing needs**. Behind the engine is another car, this is how you will uniquely address the pressing needs. The third car back is the guarantees on how your differentiators uniquely address their pressing needs. At the very back, **the caboose is price/salary**. Most people lead with the caboose, she says, and that just makes the train go backwards\!

**Summary**

Dr Medvec trains executive teams on eliminating the fear of having an emotionally charged, contentious, single-issue discussion $usually around price$. The **biggest mistake,** she says, is not putting the right issues on the table.

I always advise my clients that it is nice if your customers like you but essential that they need you, she says.

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