Successful negotiation tactics

10 steps to successful negotiation:

1. Decide your negotiation goals

Having a clear idea of what you want your negotiations to achieve is a good starting point.

Whether it's preferential deliveries or lower prices for materials your business needs, write down your goals and rank them in order of importance.

Draw a line on the list that is your minimum position - anything less, and you will walk away from the negotiation - and the ideal outcome.

A successful outcome will fall between those two points.

It's a good idea to always have a plan B if you're not going to be able to negotiate your goals and need to walk away - and understand what impact that would have on your business.

Make sure that the goal of your negotiations is better than that offered by your plan B.

2. Research before you negotiate

Preparation, before you start negotiating, is crucial for success.

Researching the other parties you'll be dealing with will help you predict and prepare for the position they're likely to take during the negotiations.

Find out information such as their background and financial status, examples of any past deals and agreements, their company culture and any personal information on the other party's negotiating team and the negotiation style they use.

Start your research online.

Search for the company name or the names of the people you'll be dealing with using sites such as LinkedIn, and look through results found in trade magazines and news articles.

Visit their website and see if it has a press release section and read up on their recent activity.

Talk to other companies that work with them to get a view of what they're like to negotiate with.

Researching a third party isn't about unearthing weaknesses.

The more you know about the other party - their interests, aims and concerns - the better the offer you can put on the table and the more chance you'll have of your final proposal being accepted.

Research can also help to ground the negotiations with facts.

You'll be able to argue your position more persuasively if you can cite relevant facts or statistics such as competitor pricing, terms of agreement, alternative options or - in the case of staff pay discussions - salaries for similar job roles.

3. Adopt a positive attitude

Negotiations are not a battle, so avoid entering them in a combative mood.

Be aware of your emotions.

Remain calm, even if the negotiations are not going your way, and avoid increasing tensions with shouting, threats or other angry outbursts.

Instead, adopt a purposeful, professional approach and use collaborative language - such as "let's see how we can work together on this" to move negotiations to a positive resolution.

Even little things can derail negotiations, such as feeling hungry, tired or bored.

Before negotiations make sure you're feeling well, get plenty of rest, and schedule negotiations after lunch or breakfast so you don't let hunger affect your mood.

According to research by Cornell University professor Emily Zitek and Dartmouth College professor Alexander Jordan, being hungry elevates a sense of entitlement, leading to poor decisions and an inability to see things from another person's perspective.

Watch this: Making sure negotiations are effective is the subject of this popular video from the Stanford Graduate School of Business - it may be US-based and a few years old, but its principles are timeless and universal: