As a negotiator, you will often be confronted with getting obstinate, self-willed, or intractable people, to impose a deadline on themselves and move to convergence. The answer to that is to affect events to influence decision making by creating incentives for them to concede and close.
Here are the steps to take to accomplish that from your friends at Dale Carnegie Training of the Northwest:
First — Try to have them understand that further delay on their part could prove dangerous to their interests.
Second — Facilitate their realization that continuing their unmanageable behavior will not cause you to soften your terms. In effect, maintaining such willful conduct will prove a poor return on their investment.
Third — Structure the situation so they come to believe that a continued impasse might cause you to up the negative ante. In other words, as time passes, there is potential for escalation—which means that what you have already conceded could be taken off the table.
Finally — Convince your opponent that they must accept the fact that your last offer is preferable to no agreement.
Follow these guidelines during negotiations and more often than not you’ll bring about an agreement that is favorable to your position!
This post is brought to you by Dale Carnegie Training of the Northwest, providers of professional development and management course. Please connect with us on Facebook!
Photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net/Stuart Miles