This article is excerpted from Harvard Classic Negotiation Course
When it comes to communication and negotiation, we always think that this matter is too "professional", and the scene of lawyers or business elites "fighting" at the negotiation table comes to mind. However, we often ignore that life is a negotiation. Since we were born, we have been negotiating with ourselves. In our mind, two villains fight every day: get up, can't get up? This one is handsome and that one is beautiful. Which one should I wear? Buy or not The most classic is Shakespeare's sentence: "To be or not to be, that's a question.”
The classic negotiation course of Harvard Business School has given us many learning and referential standards through the vivid, interesting and profound interpretation of Drake Aton, a negotiation master in 2016 and one of the founders of the negotiation project of Harvard University. In his new book, "Harvard Classic Negotiation Course", the KISS (keep it short and simple) principle is truly implemented, 19 negotiation strategies have been refined. Here are 9 strategies, which can be used by readers for reference?
01 High authority strategy
"I am willing to agree with you, but our committee will not sign this agreement unless you make other compensations to us." Or: "I cannot persuade my leaders to accept this request."
This is the "high authority strategy". Generally speaking, the so-called high authority in this strategy often refers to a group of decision makers, such as the board of directors, the committee, the presidium, etc. Many people may feel that they are unable to make an appropriate decision on the spot, but master level negotiators know that they must have more think tanks to use when necessary, and the party playing the villain is always the company's committee or board of directors, who has the highest power.
When using a high authority strategy, never use the name of a specific person in the company, because this may prompt the other party that they should talk directly with the company's person who is in charge.
The "high authority strategy" and the "red and white face strategy" are often used in combination to obtain the other party's negotiation concessions. In a natural and fluent way: "I am really willing to fight for you, but the leadership does not allow it. Could you do me a favor and make some concessions so that I can persuade them to pass the strict review procedure?"
02 Red and white face strategy
The red and white face strategy is also known as the "good and bad police strategy", because the police often use this psychological strategy during interrogation: "If you tell me the true information, I can assure you that my colleague will let you go and give up his original plan to prosecute you."
It can be seen from the above that in this strategy, there are usually two people on one side of the negotiation, one is more kind and talkative, and the other is aggressive and refuses to give up any land. After a negotiation, the tough person will leave the table angrily, and the remaining kind person will say: "If you can agree with this, then I am sure to persuade my partner to accept your terms."
Many families also adopt this strategy in educating their children. In order to make their children "eat well", "study hard" and "exercise hard", both parents play the role of "red face" and "white face" respectively to achieve the purpose of education.
Some people often question that this is too clever, and they forget one thing: in many cases, their efforts have not been rewarded as they should. The beauty of this strategy is that it can infer the conditions that the other party is really willing to give, and get the true information about the other party's negotiation positioning.
03 Time strategy
When people are pressed for time, they tend to compromise more easily. In general, 80% of concessions and compromises in negotiations are generated in the last 20% of the time. Therefore, the negotiation must ensure the control of time, so as not to be suppressed due to time constraints.
Don't be afraid to ask for a break when you want to consider the conditions proposed by the other party or feel that the negotiation has stalled. This kind of break is often called a pause, recess or "private room talk" (the term "private room talk" was first put forward in the Harvard research project. Researchers found that most negotiators cannot always stop to calmly analyze the current situation in negotiations).
There are three benefits of suspending the meeting during the negotiation:
1. Gain time to think. When faced with various pressures, it is often difficult or impossible for people to think rationally and creatively.
2. Jump out of the emotional state of the fans. The suspension of the meeting can calm both sides of the negotiation and bring them back to the common goal. In other words, it separates people (emotions) from things (solutions).
3. We can pool our wisdom. During the break time, you can discuss with colleagues, analyze the current situation, give different perspectives and views, and achieve better cooperation.
Even if we participate in the negotiation alone, we can still spend a few minutes in the break time to think about the current situation, write our thoughts on a piece of paper, go through it carefully, or help colleagues sort it out.
04 Observer strategy
During the meeting, take the observer with you to observe the other party's body, expression and other language, and observe the development of the situation and the overall situation. And when the meeting is suspended, he will tell you what he thinks the other party may take next, and give targeted suggestions or opinions.
At the negotiation table, it is very difficult for us to observe the other party's body language while discussing, trading and arguing, so the role of observers is very important. This strategy is often used in major business, political and other negotiations.
05 Great Wisdom as Fool Strategy
The strategy of acting like a fool is also called "Colombo's strategy of detective". In short, it means pretending not to understand the strategy, so as to let the other party explain the problems they raised again. It is applicable to situations where you think the other party has not told you all the truth, or you want to find out the truth.
Colombo is a character in the famous American TV series Detective Colombo, played by Peter Falk. The character often uses the strategy of being too wise to be foolish. It seems that he can never immediately understand what the other person is saying and is always asking questions. It seems that he is not listening carefully and is always in an absent-minded state. People often have to explain again, and in the process of explanation, they will unconsciously reveal more additional information, some of which is oral language, Some are body language and expression language.
06 Silence Strategy
Silence strategies are also very common. After raising a high-quality question, the use of silence is very important. Be sure to keep asking, wait for the answer quietly, and don't let the other party muddle through.
07 Strategies for shelving disputes
To achieve something or reach an agreement, we need some momentum. If the negotiation falls into a dispute over a certain issue and cannot continue, the pace of the negotiation will inevitably be slowed down and the momentum will disappear. At this time, it is wise to solve the problems that can be agreed by both parties first, and put aside the problems that have differences and discuss them later.
If, at the end of the negotiation, eight of the ten issues in total reach agreement and only two remain divergent, the negotiation will be very efficient. At this time, you can say: "If we compromise on this issue, can you compromise on another issue?"
