Negotiations. It’s a part of businesses everywhere. Whether you like it or not, you’ll need to talk to people and come up with solutions that satisfy both parties.
But what about entrepreneurs? Do they need to learn to negotiate during their business ventures? The short answer is: Yes.
Since negotiation is a part of the driving force in a business, it’s not surprising to see entrepreneurs experience any scenarios that involve deal-making and or compromising. Moreover, all entrepreneurs must learn to be not only a good CEO but also a good negotiator. That means stepping into the shoes of people that you work with … which are many shoes since you’re not just working with one person but many.
So, to be a good negotiator as an entrepreneur, you’ll need to learn these 5 essential skills:
- Organization
“First, organization is key, when it comes to entrepreneurship,” says Jennifer Kelly, a marketing writer at Research papers UK and Writinity. “When running a business, it’s important to keep track of your employees, inventory, any suppliers, marketers, and so on. While this might seem like a big juggling act for you, strong organizational skills can help you keep things running in the business. Ultimately, your employees and partners will look to you for answers, for assurance, and other obligations.”
Therefore, organization is essential when you’re negotiating deals, compromises, and decisions that you make with others in your business.
- Perceiving And Exploiting Power
The truth is, when you negotiate, you’re trying to establish a balance between getting what you want and conceding. Essentially, you’re leveraging power. In other words, when you negotiate, you’re not freely giving away information without getting something out of it.
To do this:
- Ask additional questions before giving a response. You’d want to learn more about a situation before answering right away.
- Read the room by using your instincts and intuition. Does the situation sound good? Or do you need to walk away?
By doing this, you’re leveraging power by perceiving and exploiting it.
- Personal Integrity
Personal integrity is another skill that you need to have when negotiating as an entrepreneur. In other words, don’t be disappointed when you don’t make a sale. Instead, think of how you’re selling the product, and why the sale had failed in the first place. In other words, what can be done to gain consumer trust and make that sale next time?
Also, keep in mind, that how you act reflects your business. While product knowledge is essential, so is your attitude. So, make sure that your behaviors and attitude are in check as you work with consumers, partners, etc. Remember the Golden Rule: “Treat others as you want to be treated.”
- Working Under Stress
“Stress can take on any shape or form, especially when you’re an entrepreneur,” says Darla Kruczek, a business blogger at Draft Beyond. “You might experience stress when trying to work with other people. While this is normal to experience, it’s still imperative that you keep your cool when reaching a compromise with another person. While negotiations tend to be difficult, they’re still a huge part of the business. That’s why you’ll need to learn to work under stress. That means keeping an open mind and being willing to compromise when necessary. In this way, the other person or group will view you as open-minded and understanding.”
- Communication
Finally, as an entrepreneur, you have to talk to ANYBODY and EVERYBODY that you do business with. While there’s no need to be a prodigy in public speaking, it’s still important to have good communication in your business. Keep in mind: You’re working with many people, besides customers. You have to negotiate with your employees, suppliers, marketers, and so on. With that said, communication is vital for keeping your business running.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many skills that entrepreneurs need to be successful in negotiations. However, these 5 skills are the most notable, since they delve into the heart of negotiations. Therefore, it’s important to know the following skills in negotiating:
- Organization
- Perceiving and exploiting power
- Personal integrity
- The ability to work under stress, AND
- The ability to talk to people
We hope that this quick guide will help you to be not only a successful entrepreneur but also a successful negotiator.
Eula Skiles is a writer at Speech writing service and Buy assignment online. She is also a contributing writer at Gum Essays. As a content writer, she writes articles about digital marketing strategies and entrepreneurship.