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Negotiation Skills
Negotiation skills are important skills that everyone needs, especially for leaders. Good leadership knows how to negotiate for the best outcome that will benefit the followers and the organisation. Walking away with a bad outcome from a negotiation will bring down an organisation and demoralise the followers.
Learning to negotiate is one of the projects in Toastmasters Pathways education, a compulsory project in the Dynamic Leadership track of the 11 Pathways tracks. Toastmasters Pathways education teaches that there are 4 outcomes in a negotiation.
- WIn-Win
- Win-Lose
- Compromise
- Knowing When To Walk Away
Negotiate The Best Outcome – Elaine Tan’s Pathway Project
“Negotiate The Best Outcome” is a compulsory Level 3 project for those toastmasters taking the Dynamic Leadership track for Pathways Education in Toastmasters.
This is a Prepared Speech Project presented by Elaine Tan and she shared about her experience when she was planning on buying a property and had to negotiate for a favourable selling price with her property agent.
Speaker: Elaine Tan, ACB, CL, DL2
Pathway: Dynamic Leadership
Level 3, Project 3: Negotiate The Best Outcome
Title: Winning The Negotiation
Date: 15 October 2020
Fear of Negotiation
Life is a series of negotiations. Some people love negotiation, many others hate it. As for me, I have a phobia for negotiation. I will do anything and everything just to avoid a negotiation. If the offer meets my minimum needs, I will say yes to save me the stress of having to deal with people who have different agendas and styles.
This is definitely not a wise approach to how I should deal with people. Nevertheless, I know I need to do something about dealing with my fear of negotiation.
The Art Of Negotiation
We need to negotiate all day, every day. From the moment we wake up to the time we return to sleep. Sometimes, we even need to negotiate in our sleep.
Wake up, it is time for school!”
“Please let me sleep for another 10 minutes! I will skip breakfast.”
“Wake up now, you will be late for school!”
“There is still time for me to sleep for another 5 minutes. We are having online lesson now. Moving myself to the computer will only take 30 seconds.”
It was amazing to observe how my sister negotiates in her sleep when my mum tried to wake her up every morning. In case, you are wondering how old my sister is, she is in her early thirties and she is a teacher. This is what my sister taught me about negotiation. There are only 3 steps in the art of negotiation.
- Maintain our emotional composure.
- Listen actively.
- Achieve desired outcome.
The Encounter That Changed Me
Unlike my sister, I am hopeless in negotiation. In order to avoid negotiation, most of the time, I would just end up walking away with bad offers and suffer great losses. I thought I would keep on living in avoidance until I finally met this person. He helped me to practice the art of negotiation. I do not remember his name but they are usually called, “the property agent”!
I was purchasing my first property years ago and this property agent tried very hard to convince me that the selling price was reasonable. I loved the property, but the selling price was way above my humble budget. I could not bring myself to negotiate for a lower price, because the property agent kept telling me that the property owner needed money to raise his family and it was a sin to even suggest a lower price.
I was also told that there were many keen buyers and they might offer even a higher price for the property. The property agent gave me only one day to decide if I would be agreeable to purchase the property at the asking price. I almost purchase the property without negotiating. It was another morning that I witnessed how my sister managed to stay in bed till 30 seconds before her class started, I decided to negotiate with the property agent and took all the courage that I needed to overcome my phobias and commit the “sin”.
Winning The Negotiation
“I am unable to purchase the property at this price. You can consider other keen buyers who are willing to buy it at a higher price.” I told the property agent in a calm emotional state.
Deciding not to let my emotion get hold of me, I decided to give up the property as I could not afford it. The next day, the property agent called me and quoted me a lower price for the same property. But I rejected it.
“I thought there were other keen buyers?” I asked the property agent.
He replied, “All of them could not secure the bank loan and the owner needed to sell it off quickly.”
After listening actively to him, I decided to put to practice my newly acquired art of negotiation,
“The bank is only willing to loan me half of your asking price. Together with my saving and CPF, I am unable to afford the property at the asking price. Please let me know by tomorrow if the owner Is agreeable to reduce it further. I am about to purchase another property in the same area.”
Of course, I lied. Since I decided to commit the “sin” by suggesting a lower price, I thought it would worth my effort to commit a bigger “sin”. It never occurred to me that the owner accepted my offer within that week. It was my first time negotiating and I won. I had saved a lot of money through the negotiation and I became less phobic over negotiation from that day on.
Mastering Negotiation
Life is an ongoing process of never-ending negotiations.
Our emotional state is important for us to make the right call during negotiation.
Active listening is also important during negotiation which helps us gather crucial information that we can use to our advantage.
We must also never lose sight of our desired outcome until we achieve it.
I have learnt a great deal from my sister and through negotiating with the property agent. Despite being still phonic over negotiation, I will no longer run away from it.
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