Negotiation skills - The Complete Guide

An overview of the five negotiation styles based on how much you care about the relationship versus the outcome: the turtle who avoids negotiating, the shark who competes to win, the teddy bear who gives in to preserve the relationship, the owl who looks for win win solutions, and the fox who seeks compromise. Explains when each style actually works best.

Why the fear of negotiating is really a fear of rejection rather than any real danger, and three questions to ask yourself before a negotiation, what can I gain, what do I lose by not negotiating, and what is the worst that can happen, to reduce that fear and get started.

Why negotiating is ultimately a decision you make, not a talent you either have or do not have, and a simple daily habit, asking for a better table, a discount, or a fee waiver, that builds your negotiation confidence over time.

A short exercise to identify your biggest current challenges in negotiation and the everyday situations where you could start practicing the techniques from this training.

An introduction to what happens during the negotiation itself, covering body language, cognitive biases, and the practical techniques used to open, advance, and steer a negotiation toward a good outcome.

Why good negotiation starts with knowing yourself, your objectives, your fears, and what triggers a loss of composure, illustrated with real examples on discomfort with numbers, feeling intimidated by more powerful counterparts, and how to prepare for each.

A reflection exercise on which aspect of negotiation scares you the most, whether you feel intimidated by powerful counterparts, and what triggers you to lose your composure, so you can prepare for it in advance.

Why researching the other party, the market, the product, or the company, before a negotiation gives you a real advantage, with practical tips on where to find salary benchmarks and how to make sure you are negotiating with the actual decision maker.

A research exercise to gather the information you need before your next negotiation, market benchmarks if it is a salary negotiation, or background on the other party if it is a business negotiation.

How to define your opening offer, your target, your walk away point, and your BATNA, your best alternative if the negotiation fails, before you start, illustrated with a concrete salary negotiation example.

An exercise to define your own opening offer, target, walk away point, and BATNA for an upcoming negotiation, using the salary example from the previous lesson as a template.

How to think beyond price and identify non monetary elements, a free service, extra options, more flexibility, that can unlock a negotiation when the other party will not move on the number itself, illustrated with a car buying and a job negotiation example.

An exercise to list the non monetary elements you could bring into your next negotiation if the other party is inflexible on price, along with what you think the other party actually needs.

Practical body language tips for a negotiation: keeping an open posture, maintaining eye contact, practicing active listening, staying calm instead of using intimidation tactics, and avoiding a direct face to face seating position that can create a confrontational feel.

Why we are more easily persuaded by people who resemble us, backed by an MBA negotiation study where finding common ground before negotiating nearly doubled the success rate. Practical tips on the questions to ask to build genuine rapport before getting into the substance of a negotiation.

A seven day challenge to practice starting conversations and asking genuine questions to find common ground with people you meet, at the coffee machine, in the elevator, or at the bus stop, to build the rapport habit before your next negotiation.

Whether to make the first offer or let the other party speak first: making the first offer sets an anchor and gives you the advantage in most cases, while letting the other side go first can protect you when you lack information about their budget or expectations.

The flinch, or exaggerated emotional reaction, technique: reacting visibly to an offer that seems far from what you expected, then staying silent, to prompt the other party to improve their offer or explain their reasoning, plus how to respond calmly if this technique is used against you.

Two research backed reasons to avoid round numbers in a negotiation, such as a salary request, since a precise figure signals it is based on real reasoning and tends to lead to smaller concessions from the other side.

Why presenting fewer, stronger arguments beats a long list, since a weak argument buried among strong ones gives the other party an easy target to attack. Also introduces the 80 20 rule, listen 80 percent of the time, talk 20 percent, to gather the information you need.

Why getting emotionally attached to a single number or position can stall a negotiation, illustrated with a famous cold war arms inspection deadlock, and why staying firm on what truly matters while staying flexible and creative on the rest leads to better outcomes.

How the same information, framed as a 10 percent failure rate versus a 90 percent success rate, leads to different decisions, and how shifting the focus from price to the value or savings a solution provides can make an offer far more persuasive.

An exercise to reframe your next offer around the benefits it provides and the potential downside of inaction for the other party, rather than around price alone.

How a first number, even a random one, measurably anchors people's later judgment, illustrated with a classic psychology experiment and with a story of how Arnold Schwarzenegger used a deliberately high opening quote to make the rest of the negotiation easier.

Why making small concessions with something asked in return works better than a sudden, large price drop, which signals weakness, illustrated with pricing and real estate examples showing how to move in small, justified increments.

A common mistake, offering a discount or lowering your price before anyone has even challenged it, and why sending your price with confidence, without pre emptively softening it, gets better results, illustrated with two real pricing mistakes from the author's own career.

Why open questions, what, who, how, when, are far more effective than closed yes or no questions for building trust and steering a negotiation, illustrated with examples on asking for a raise or pushing back on an unexpected new assignment.

How to handle an angry or aggressive counterpart during a negotiation, staying calm, proposing a short pause instead of escalating, and rebuilding rapport before resuming the discussion, illustrated with a real high stakes client meeting example.

The rule of no concession without a counterpart, and how to be clear in advance about which points are truly non negotiable versus flexible, illustrated with real salary and consulting fee examples of holding firm on core values while staying open elsewhere.

What to do when someone asks directly for your best or final offer early in a negotiation, and why answering that question too quickly gives away your advantage. Includes ready to use responses that redirect the conversation toward the other party's budget or the value of your offer.

An exercise to prepare your response in advance for when someone asks for your best or final offer, using the example phrasing from the previous lesson.

Small last minute additions, an extra warranty, a small fee, a loyalty requirement, that sellers sometimes add once you have already mentally agreed to a deal, and how to use this same window to your advantage as a buyer.

Why knowing your walk away point and your BATNA before you start protects you from accepting a bad deal, and how the sunk cost fallacy, illustrated with the Concorde example, can keep people negotiating long after they should have stopped.

A worked example that walks through a full negotiation from start to finish, showing how the techniques from this training, preparation, rapport, anchoring, and flexibility, come together in practice.

A short closing message summarizing the key techniques covered in this training: preparing thoroughly, building rapport, using anchoring and framing, staying flexible, and always confirming an agreement in writing once it is reached.

How to get in touch with Jamal Lazaar with questions about this negotiation training, and where to follow his other courses on communication and influence.

Bonus resources and information about Jamal Lazaar's other courses on negotiation, communication, and influence.

How to claim and download your certificate of completion for this negotiation skills training.