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How to Enhance The Outcome Of Small Business Negotiation

What can you do as a small business owner to enhance the outcome of your negotiation? Every business get involved in one form of negotiation or the other because it comes with the terrain. The small business owner can find themselves in a situation where they have to do a lot of negotiation. The outcome of such small business negotiation can impact the business negatively or positively.

  • Negotiations creates opportunities for the business
  • It can result in contract agreements that could work against the business
  • It can result in deals that will leave the business exposed

Negotiations are so critical that they can determine if the business will continue or fold up
Negotiations can be a risky venture for the small business owner if the outcome is not favorable to the business. It is therefore imperative on the part of the small business owner to devise a strategy to deal with all levels and types of negotiation in such a way that the outcome will be favorable for the business.

Think Like A Professional Negotiator

You may have to dove the hat of a professional negotiator and apply this to every type and level of negotiation you get involved in. It would be tempting to look as some negotiations and say they are not worth the kind of attention they deserve.

This may be due to the issue at stake, the time involved, the amount of money involved or the people you are dealing with but this approach may be wrong.

The Issue At Stake

Every negotiation has to be about something and it is the reason behind the negotiation that will determine the issue at stake. For instance, if the what you are negotiating over has to do with increasing the charge of the raw materials being supplied for your business, the issues at stake would be:-

  1. The final price on your finished product
  2. Your market share of that product as it relates to how consumers will react to a price hike and what the competition is offering
  3. The possibility of getting another set of suppliers
  4. The cost associated with getting another set of suppliers.

The issues at stake could determine the gravity of the negotiation. You may not consider such issues to be important but what is important is the fact that establishing a systematic approach to negotiation will give your business deals a certain edge that will be advantageous to you.

The Time Involved

The duration of the negotiation may play a role in how you will gauge its importance to your business. There are negotiations that can be handled over the phone and could last less than five minutes.

It may be tempting to look at such types of negotiation as something that are less important than those you would have to travel to handle personally.

The Amount Of Money Involved

The amount of money involved might make some negotiations go under your radar. They may not be worth much in dollar terms but this does not mean that there are no intrinsic values associated with taking such negotiations seriously. The fact that they have all the characteristics of a negotiation makes them important.

Another thing is that they should be seen in terms of the fact that the money involved has to do with the company. This should be enough of an incentive to take it seriously. Delegating the task may work fine but making sure it is handled professionally and in an accountable manner is far better.

The People Involved

Another issue that might influence how small business owners gauge a negotiation is the people involved. However, if all business transaction that takes place in your business adds value to it then any business negotiation also adds value to it.

Apply Best Practices

Applying professional principles of negotiation across board creates a standard and builds your experience when negotiating. The standardization helps your business in a structural way. It also means that what is applied to one deal can be applied to bigger deals.

There could be a chance that as a small business owner, you could be exposed to more of these smaller deals than the bigger ones. Taking them as serious as the bigger ones by applying best practices makes you a better negotiator.

Adopting best practices across board will enhance the outcomes of your negotiations. The difference between big and small businesses may be how the owners chose to run them. Anyone that applies best practices will have a business that is profitable and sustainable. As a small business owner, you can create a structurally successful business by running it professionally.

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