How to Overcome the Top Ten Negotiating Tactics

Everyone uses negotiation tactics to get what they want, whether they’re haggling over the price of an item in a garage sale or discussing potential salary with a future employer. Most of the time, when you enter a negotiating situation you can expect the other party to use certain maneuvers to tip the scales in their favor. For example, you can expect a potential employer to offer you less money than they are actually willing to pay to give themselves negotiating room. And a buyer will usually act surprised at your stated price, no matter how reasonable it may be, to pressure you into lowering it.

Everyone uses these tactics, but that doesn’t mean that negotiations can’t be fair. Some tactics are acceptable, while others are downright sleazy. Tactics are part of the process, and you can use them and still maintain your negotiations on an honest level. In other words, the use of tactics doesn’t necessarily mean tricking or manipulating people.

Some tactics are simply tools to expedite the negotiation process; others are used to take advantage of the other person. To be successful in sales and business, you must be able to differentiate between the fair and unfair negotiation tactics so you can use the good ones to your advantage and deflect the questionable ones. Consider the following ten negotiation tactics and the methods you can use to deflect them:

Tactic #1: The Wince

The wince can be explained as any overt negative reaction to someone’s offer. For example, you might act stunned or surprised when your negotiating counterpart names their terms. This tactic tells your counterpart that you know your limits, which isn’t under-handed or dishonest. And wincing at the right time can potentially save you thousands of dollars. Keep in mind that when deals are negotiable, your counterpart will start high.

Of course, you won’t always be the wincer. Many times, especially in the sales profession, you’ll be on the receiving end of the wince. In this case, you can counter with the next tactic.

Tactic #2: Silence

In the negotiation process, silence can be your strongest tool. If you don’t like what your counterpart has said, or if you’ve made an offer and you’re waiting for a response, just sit back and wait. Most people feel uncomfortable when conversation ceases, and they start talking automatically to fill the void. Almost without fail, your counterpart will start whittling away his or her position when you use this tactic.

So what if you find yourself negotiating with a person who understands the importance of silence as well as you? Rather than wasting time in silence, restate your offer. Don’t make suggestions; just repeat your terms. This maneuver forces the other person to respond, and more often than not, they respond with a concession.

Tactic #3: The Good Guy/Bad Guy Routine

This sleazy tactic is often used in movies, where two detectives are interrogating a person who’s just been arrested. One detective seems unreasonable and inflexible, while the other tries to make it look like he or she is on the suspect’s side. This tactic is designed to get you to make concessions without the other side making any in return.

If you find yourself in a good guy/bad guy situation, the best response is to ignore it. Recognize this game for what it is, but don’t play along and don’t allow the good guy to influence your decision. The best technique is to let your counterparts play their game, while you watch out for your own interests.

Tactic #4: Limited Authority

This tactic is a variation on the good guy/bad guy routine, but instead of two people working over you, the one person you’re dealing with tells you that he or she must approve any deals with an unseen higher authority. Sometimes, this higher authority exists, but other times your counterpart will create this figure to gain an edge in the negotiation process.

So just because your counterpart tells you, “It’s out of my hands,” don’t automatically assume the person is being honest. In this type of situation, two options exist: one, ask to deal directly with this so-called higher authority; or two, test the limits of your counterpart. You may find that although the other person has used this tactic to force you into backing down, if you keep at him or her, you may get what you want.

Tactic #5: The Red Herring

This technique comes from fox hunting competitions, where one team drags a dead fish across the fox’s path to distract the other team’s dogs. At the bargaining table, a red herring means one side brings up a minor point to distract the other side from the main issue. Effective and ethical negotiators generally agree that this tactic is the sleaziest of them all.

When your negotiation process is bogged down with a minor problem, and your counterpart insists on settling it before they’ll even talk about more important issues, then you are probably dealing with a red herring. In this case, use extreme caution, and suggest setting the issue aside temporarily to work out other details.

Tactic #6: The Trial Balloon

Trial balloons are questions designed to assess your negotiating counterpart’s position without giving any clues about your plans. For example, you may ask your counterpart, “Would you consider trying our services on a temporary basis?” or “Have you considered our other service plans?” Essentially, these types of questions put the ball in your counterpart’s court, and the nice part about them is they aren’t really offers. They allow you to gain information without making a commitment.

When you’re on the receiving end of a trial balloon question, you may feel compelled to answer it thoroughly. To maintain your edge, resist this temptation and counter with another question. For example, if someone asks, “Would you consider financing the house yourself?” respond, “Well, if I did, what would your offer be?”

Tactic #7: Low-Balling

Low-balling is the opposite of the trial balloon. Instead of tempting you to make the first offer, your counterpart will open the process with a fantastic offer. Then after you agree, they start hitting you with additional necessities.

For example, say you see an ad for a product priced lower than other stores. But then after you agree to buy, the sales representative uncovers the hidden costs, such as shipping or installation. In the end you probably pay more than you would have at another store listing a higher price on the product. To avoid falling victim to this tactic, ask your counterpart about additional costs before agreeing to any deal.

Tactic #8: The Bait-and-Switch

Similar to low-balling, the bait-and-switch tactic should be avoided. Your counterpart may try to attract your interests with one great offer, but then hook you with another mediocre one. This tactic will almost always burn you, unless you can recognize it. If your counterpart were really able to offer a genuinely good deal, they wouldn’t have to resort to bait-and-switch.

Tactic #9: Outrageous Behavior

Outrageous behavior can be categorized as any form of socially unacceptable conduct intended to force the other side to make a move, such as throwing a fit of anger or bursting into tears. As most people feel uncomfortable in these situations, they may reduce their negotiating terms just to avoid them.

However, the most effective response to outrageous behavior is none at all. Just wait for the fit to die down before reacting, because emotional negotiations can result in disaster.

Tactic #10: The Written Word

When terms of a deal are written out, they often seem non-negotiable. For example, when was the last time you negotiated a lease, or a loan, or even a service contract that was typed up in advance in an official-looking document? You probably assumed these deals were non-negotiable, and for some reason most people make the same mistake of accepting terms that appear in writing.

The best defense against this tactic is simply to question everything, whether it appears in writing or not. You’ll inevitably run into some standard, non-negotiable documents, but it never hurts to ask questions. You may be surprised how many contracts actually are negotiable when challenged.

Better Negotiations in the Future

People have used these ten negotiation tactics for years, but that doesn’t mean they are always fair. So before you rush into your next negotiation situation, make yourself aware of these tactics and how they affect the process. When you learn the uses and defenses of these negotiation techniques, you can reach more mutually beneficial agreements and win more sales on better terms.

Biography

Tips to Create an Impressive Slide Show Presentation

There are, probably, no people, who have not tried creating slide shows. These presentations are effectively used for educative, business, marketing and personal purposes. The only thing is that your presentation should create positive impression and have visually appealing design to help you reach your goals. For this very reason, you should find out as much as possible about the major rules of creating photo presentations. It’s recommended to explore the topic prior to proceeding to your project so that you could have enough time to learn all the crucial nuances. If you are right about to start working on your slide show presentation, have a look at some tips on how to create interesting and appealing slide shows that will come up to the needs of spectators.

1. The Topic

The topic matters a lot in the choice of the best slide show creation approach. It has direct influence upon the design elements you will choose for your presentation, template, visuals etc. If you are given a topic, then it’s half of the work already as you will just need to plan the presentation structure. If you don’t have the one yet, then it will be more complicated. You will need more time to think over the presentation and its features.

2. Make It Unique

Whatever slide show maker you are going to use, avoid customizing the available designs. They look plain (if not boring) and they won’t be attention-grabbing, no matter how hard you try. Instead, choose a blank presentation template and start building your own slide show from scratch, using the design elements that suit the topic most of all.

3. Be Creative

Creativity is always favoured. This is also true, when it comes to preparing presentations. It’s recommended to learn all the design elements your slide show maker comes with and choose those of them you will need for your project. This also concerns the choice of color schemes, fonts, templates etc. Don’t try to save time, when working on your project. Otherwise, the quality may be at risk.

4. Make the Text Short

It is desirable to create slides with texts to convey the message you have. However, making the text too long can make the slide show too confusing and not understandable. So, it makes sense to write a short sentence or a phrase below each slide to be able to explain your point when presenting the project to the audience.

5. Make the Text and the Background Contrasting

Proper choice of a background is important, if you are going to add text to the slide. To attract the attention of people to your message, it is better to choose contrasting colors of the background and the text. When using the text, don’t add bulky images that will make the slide show easy-to-understand. By the way, experts recommend using not more than five basic colors in one presentation. These colours should harmoniously combine with each other to create the appealing effect and enhance the design of your slide show.

6. Don’t Use Too Many Images

Properly chosen images can present your topic in a more favorable light, but if there are too many images on one slide, they may spoil the entire message and design of it. One large or medium-sized photo looks much better than several small pictures. Keep that in mind when creating a presentation next time.

7. Make Use of Powerful Visuals

Making use of visuals is a nice idea, if you wish to give your slide show more comprehensive and understandable look and message. When it comes to conveying your ideas, one properly selected visual may be worth several images. They can improve the perception of the presentation and create better impact upon the audience.

8. Don’t Hurry!

The process of creating a presentation should be properly thought-over and consequent. If you are in a hurry, this won’t bring the desired effect as you run a risk of making too many mistakes and overlooking crucial nuances. If you have enough time not only to prepare the presentation, but also to check all the stages properly, then the chances to gain your objectives are quite high.

Tips On How To Turn Your Past Into A Productive Present

What is past and what is present? We obviously know that our past is gone and the events that formed the past can never be redone. The good, the bad, the beautiful or the ugly; they’ve already occurred; and all over now. What is important whenever we reminisce on our past is to make it as productive and relevant as possible to our present. While you cannot change what has transpired, you can change how you think about what happened.

Usually, when you think about the past and ever allow the positive events to dominate your thoughts, the tendencies are that; you will likely be grateful for those happy moments and probably imagine reliving it which may result in another emotion of self-pity knowing very well you cannot relive the past. In some cases, it helps you think of ways to improve your present so that the happiness continues. On the contrary, if ever your memory of the events you termed as negative needs to be revisited, unless you deal with the emotions associated with those events, you will continue to carry them with you into the present moment. To a large extent, if you failed to resolve issues of the past, the memories of such experiences become responsible for your spiritual and emotional bankruptcy when you become an adult. For instance if as a child, you were greatly abused, molested or had been harshly criticized and failed to deal with it earlier on, you are more likely to become very defensive and insecure in your adult life, which in essence becomes part of you and a way of life.

When you do not let go of tales of unhappiness, resentment, or rejection that filled your past you find it increasingly difficult to merge present activities to your dreams, sometimes the feelings you hold on to from your past experiences even deter you from aspiring as high as possible, having allowed those emotions of fear, revenge, guilt, blame or insecurity, to affect other areas of your life; which may include your relationships with people, attitudes, business and money matters. Undoubtedly, many of us have events, situations or people in our histories, which still evoke some emotions in us, but there is always time to work on such emotions to move beyond it. Maybe you were a victim of child abuse, and believe you could never live beyond the vestiges of that? Or you are finding it hard to forgive yourself for something you did years ago, and the guilt won’t just fade? There is nothing you can’t achieve if you believe and try.

The mistakes of yesteryear, either by you or other people, that have deposited a great deal of negative feelings within your body and soul, could be transformed from a severe liability into a valuable asset. While you could successfully do away with your feelings of anger, revenge, guilt, blame or fear, you simply didn’t because there is a reward from holding on your pain. You gain a lot from the thrill of the story. By having the story to tell, you derive some pleasure and get accepted by others. You create a stir and pacify your personal need for attention and the emotional energy associated with the event will be refreshed every time you tell your story. There is no harm in telling stories of your past but not in a way to allow you to whirl in your self-pity, or make others feel sorry for you because this simply puts you down and draw you back into unpleasant meditations.

Why not choose to use your past as a resource for progress and not a pool for pain? Why not choose to use your past as a sort of benchmark, counting your blessings on how well you have transformed your past into an inspiration for others? Many people are comfortable making themselves feel bad and do so at any opportunity. No matter what acknowledgement and attention you receive from sinking yourself into the ludicrous slush of sad tales, it can’t be as gainful as directing all your energies to your present moment, striving with focus for a greater tomorrow.

Tips to help:

Make amends where possible - If you need to make an apology for a past event and you really know it is possible for you to do so, then go ahead and free your mind, body and soul. Say sorry to whom you think deserves it. However, if you need an apology, don’t demand it except it is given voluntarily, don’t get stuck to the idea that you deserve an apology and not tendered. You often get disappointed expecting some people to do the right things. It keeps you stuck and away from achieving something greater. Take your mind off it and consider it inessential, because until you cut that chain, you cannot move forward. The process of making amends continue as you constantly aim to improve on our attitudes, behaviours, and a change in our outlook of the past in ensuring that the grievous harm from the past is totally erased.

Remember the past without strong emotions -Learn not to revisit your past morbidly or needlessly. You should practice letting go of the feelings that bring back the hurt you knew before and always view your past from a perspective that will make it as harmless as possible to you. See your past as a depot of knowledge and information which can help you make connections to elevate your self-esteem, courage and confidence.

Forgive- Learn to forgive yourself and forgive others who have maltreated you. More importantly, because you have made yourself a ditch filled with filth, carrying over the wreckage of your lost values. When you forgive, you will be able to first, believe in yourself, appreciate your worth, and give yourself the kindness, respect and love you deserve as well as extend such to others around you, far and near.

Need for acceptance- You have to accept the past, appreciate the experiences and acknowledge the lessons you have been able to learn from such experiences as all those will impact on your actions towards the positive changes required. You will then begin to tell just a story from one mile of the journey of your life and nothing more, simply accepting without condition and the more you accept, you become more accepting and forgiving to and of others. No matter what your past experiences were, you can live happier, without any grudge against yourself and anyone else by being in control of your actions and decisions and accept that your past had been the it was, simply because nature wanted it so. You have choices with your present moment and you can make the best use of the tools you now have.