Small Business Strategic Management Tips
Guides to Effective Management Success

Small Business Strategic Management Tips
Be an Effective Negotiator

In the context of this small business strategic management tips list of guides, here are some negotiation tips. Negotiating is an essential skill for gaining the edge. Without effective negotiating skills you are unlikely to gather your fair share in a variety of work situations. Among them are reaching a decision on a starting salary, termination agreement, the size of your budget, travel allowances, furnishings for your office. Add to this list buying and selling and working out provisions to a contract.

Keep in mind two crucial points about negotiation. First, recognize that many more agreements and decisions in the work place are negotiable than are ordinarily thought. You can often get more than first offered simply by asking. Instead of taking what is handed you, ask for something more or better if you think your request is legitimate.

Anna Atkins, a claims processor, provides a case example of asking for what you want. She signed on as a part-time employee on a work-at-home assignment for an insurance company. The company supplied Anna with a personal computer to send her completed documents directly to the company. Anna also saw that she would need a fax machine. Just before purchasing a machine with her own money, Anna asked if the company would be willing to make the purchase. To Anna's delight, the company did provide her a fax machine.

A second major principle of negotiating to remember is that an important goal is to arrive at win-win solutions. If both parties walk away from the negotiation with important needs being met, they will be able to preserve a good working relationship. When both sides are satisfied, there is much less chance that the deal will have to be renegotiated. Your challenge as a negotiator then is to develop options for mutual . gain. Ed Barnes, a small-business owner, provides us a useful example of arriving at win-win solutions to a negotiated agreement. Ed owns and operates a store that provides floor coverings to businesses and individuals. A party house was negotiating a carpeting contract with Ed's firm. After all the selections were made, the estimate came to $15,000. The customer prospect then decided to delay installing carpeting because of the expense.
To save the deal, Ed offered to hold all his office parties at the party house for the next five years. In addition, he would be willing to refer any business he could to the party house. The owner of the party house agreed to the deal because it meant extra business for her. She did not lose out on the carpeting because Ed offered a fair price. Ed gained the edge because he intended to schedule parties anyway, and he was able to supply the carpet from inventory.

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