In business, you don’t get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate. If you’ve ever looked online for guidance on how to negotiate and close more deals, you’ve probably been inundated with advice and viewpoints. In this blog, I’m breaking down some of my best tips to help you learn how to negotiate professionally and effectively.

How to Negotiate: 4 Tips to Make it Work

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you want more information, watch my full video on the topic!

With that, let’s get into it.

1. Always Negotiate in Good Faith

Too many professionals go into negotiating with the wrong mindset: to do whatever it takes to get what they want.

Here’s why that doesn’t work. The other company doesn’t about you getting what you want. They care about getting what they want. So, if you want to win, then you have to help them win, too. This is what negotiating in good faith is all about. You want to be a legitimate partner.

If you’re not serious about this deal, you probably shouldn’t be fighting for it. If you don’t have the ability to deliver on what you’re promising, then this likely isn’t something you should be pursuing.

Don’t focus merely on getting their business or their money. That’s not going to cut it when it comes to negotiating. It needs to be a win-win deal where both sides come out ahead.

2. Do Your Homework in Advance

Before you start negotiations, you need to do the groundwork. By the time you show up to that very important meeting, you should be an expert on whoever you’re going to be negotiating with.

Research the company, its products, and its competitors. Go through their website forward and back. Join their email list. Sift through their social media channels. Check online review sites to see what people are saying about them.

You also want to think about not just the company but the specific people you’re dealing with. Who exactly are you going to be meeting with? The decision-maker or someone who works for them? What are they trying to get out of this deal?

But it doesn’t end here. You need to research yourself too. What do you need or want from this organization? Can you name your goals in negotiating? What would you consider a “win” for this negotiation? What are the deal-killers that would make this an automatic no? On the flip side, what can you live without?

The more information you come to the table with, the likelier you’ll be to make this relationship a success.

If you wait until during negotiations to do your due diligence, you might discover something that warrants a change in your approach. But it’s really hard to backpedal once the negotiating process has already started.

So, aim to do it the right way from the get-go.

3. Determine Who Has the Leverage

Very often in business relationships, one organization is going to have more leverage over the other. This might be what I call “concrete” leverage — something like money. If one business has significantly more money than the other, they have the leverage.

However, there’s also “perceived” leverage, which can be a type of power or authority that’s more abstract than money but still just as effective.

Sometimes, the answer isn’t always super clear-cut. One company might have a ton of concrete leverage, but the other might have a lot of perceived leverage. Every relationship is a little different.

I caution you against assuming that the side with clear, concrete leverage automatically has the upper hand. There are ways you can build up your perceived leverage so that you have more negotiating power.

It largely comes down to determining what you have that the other side really wants.

4. Try the “If… Then…” Approach

One thing you usually want to avoid in negotiating is accepting something the other organization offers you without asking for something in return. I like to think of this as the “If… then…” approach.

Imagine they ask, “Can you agree to these payment terms?” and you feel comfortable with the terms. You don’t want to say “Sure!” and leave it at that.

Rather, say something like, “If we agree to those terms, can you ________?” And this is where you ask for something you really want.

Once you get comfortable with this approach, you can start to use it more strategically. For instance, you can “give up” things that aren’t must-haves for you, in a show of good faith. Then, when it comes time to ask for the things that you have to have, you’ll be standing on stronger ground because you’ve already been so compromising.

Failure isn’t Always Failure

What if you follow all of these tips and at the end of it all… you still can’t work it out?

Well, there are usually two reasons this happens. First, one or both of you realize that you’re simply not a good fit for each other. And you decide to part ways. It happens.

However, what if you are a good fit but just can’t seem to get on the same page?

Instead of calling it a day and throwing in the towel, I suggest that instead, you just give it a little time. Say something like, “You know what? Why don’t you let me take this back to the team, and let’s talk again in a week.”

Sometimes, a little time and space is all you need. It gives you a chance to cool down, take a break, and revisit things with fresh eyes. You might come up with a potential solution that you didn’t see in the heat of the negotiations — or maybe they do!

Negotiating is a science and an art. And it takes practice. Do your research in advance, go into it with good intentions, use leverage strategically, and try the “If… then…” approach. With time and practice, you’ll become a pro at negotiating.