How Can You Use Your Negotiating Instincts?

How Can You Use Your Negotiating Instincts?

 

 

Our instincts provide us with an indication of how we should be handling the current situation. When your instincts tell you that you could be heading into trouble, based on your past experiences you'll know to take an alternative course of action in order to avoid the situation that you don't want to find yourself in.



When we are in a negotiating situation, what seems to happen a lot of the time is that we are dealing with someone when our instincts start to tell us that we really should not be trusting them. There can be a lot of different reasons why we are feeling this way. It could be the contents of their office, their physical appearance, or perhaps the manner in which they speak. More likely than not, this situation reminds you of another situation that you were in in which you discovered that you could not trust the person that you were dealing with.



What we need to keep in mind is that when our instincts try to tell us something, it may have nothing to do with the people that we are interacting with. Instead, it may have something to do with the deal that you are negotiating about. Your instincts may be trying to tell you that there is something wrong here. You need to understand that your instincts only provide you with a starting point - you need to be cautious and find out some more information about what is going on.


What Does All Of This Mean For You?


In order to be successful in your next principled negotiation you are going to have to, of course, prepare for the negotiation by doing research. However, you are also going to have to become aware of what your instincts are trying to tell you.


Your instincts have been developed over time based on past experiences that you've had. They will be taking in all of the available information about the people that you are negotiating with, the circumstances of the negotiation, etc. Your instincts will produce a general feeling that you need to take heed of and listen to.