Negotiation Techniques
Jordan Sudberg, CEO and Medical Director of the Spine and Sports Rehabilitation Center in Islandia, New York is not only an experienced and talented physician but a fantastic businessman as well. Therefore, Dr. Jordan Sudberg has a lot of business savvy, including the art of negotiation.
Dr. Sudberg mentions several in his array of business skills.
- # 1. Have a clear objective in what you want
Dr. Sudberg is old school and sticks to the wisdom of baseball legend and humorous philosopher Yogi Berra who famously said, “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going because you might not get there.”
He notes that even when they succeed, negotiations fail when you aren’t clear about what it is you really want.
One of the biggest determinators of success and failure in business is not having clear objectives, and stating them in your negotiations. - #2. Treat the other party with respect
Many people in business follow the Darwinian theory that only the fittest, the swiftest and the most assured survive.
Dr. Sudberg does not hold that view and is convinced that the way to obtain the most in negotiations is to treat the other party with the utmost of respect.
Even if one party clearly holds the most cards so to speak, by treating the other party with respect, they get the sense the negotiations are not just one-sided. - #3. Ask a lot of questions
Because human beings naturally proceed in all negotiations with a lot of caution and are not forthright in their objectives, asking a lot of questions, particularly open-ended questions such as: “Tell me more about that” or ” Why is this feature important to for your company,” helps you peel the layers of the onion so to speak and get to the essentials. - #4. Ask for what you want
In the end, a lot of successful negotiations fail because a negotiator is afraid to clarify what they really want.
Even when a negotiation is successful if a negotiator really didn’t speak their ultimate objectives clearly, in essence, the negotiation fails. - #5. Reevaluate your definition of dividing the pie
Many negotiators lose in their negotiations because they have a fixed view of how to
divide the pie.
When sticking points come up, (and they will,) ask for something intangible that is of value to you, to get the other party to budge. - #6: Don’t be the first to offer to “split the difference”
Many negotiators spoil a potential negotiation by being too eager to split the difference.
While sometimes that is what it takes, just as often, if a negotiator refrains from splitting the difference too early, instead of splitting things up 50/50, they can end up with 75 percent or more of the perceived value of the negotiation.
In essence, Jordan Sudberg believes that pre negotiation strategy and coming to the negotiations prepared is 90 percent of the battle.