

Seasoned negotiators know just how to deliver required results for those they are representing. This is obviously a skill they have developed overtime. Some of the qualities they exhibit have been listed below and developing them will put you on the path of becoming a great negotiator.
1. Knows The Other Party’s Strategy
Identifying the type of negotiation gives them an idea of the strategy the other party wants to adopt. A negotiation can be competitive, cooperative or solution-based, and each approach has distinct qualities. Telling the negotiators all they need to know prepares them in the area of counter measures to adopt.
They may not like the direction the negotiation will head, if it continues with a particular approach. They weigh the merits of that approach to what they want to take away from the negotiation table and they can go with it if it is something they will be okay with. However, they may decide to change the approach in other to get what they want from the table.
2. Ability To Create Multiple Options
A solution based approach specifically requires that multiple solutions will be placed on the table and both parties get to resolve the best way forward. This goes beyond one type of negotiation, because presenting multiple solutions no matter the type of negotiation gives the negotiator a great opportunity of controlling the outcome of the meeting.
Controlling the outcome of the meeting is probably the Holy Grail of a negotiator. They want to know that all the possible outcomes will favor them and the party they represent.
3. Ability To Win Without Appearing To Have Won
This is critical if there is a likelihood that more negotiations will hold in the future. There are negotiations that one has to go into with the mind of building bridges because you already know that you would be needing the other party. It may be a joint agreement negotiation where they have to work in partnership or any other type of negotiation. The point is, having that ability to win without necessarily appearing gives you a good platform to come to the negotiation table with the same group.
Good negotiators have an eye on the future. They see steps ahead to know how they should react to what is going on presently. They know that any action taken could cause a reaction in the future. Winning at the negotiation table in such instances has to be taken without antagonizing the other party. This is more so when you adopt a conciliatory approach i.e. the cooperative style of negotiation.
4. The Ability To Set Priorities
This is an important quality of a good negotiator. Setting priorities will help you in the art of giving concessions, which is basically offering, or allowing the other party something they want in a way that shows you are losing that thing. The negotiator that has set such priorities will know what he or she will let go off, if pushing came to shoving. They may haggle, delay, and pine over it, but they already know the things they can allow as concessions to the other party.
Great negotiators make the concession look like clear victories for the other party even when they have exchanged something in return. They ride on this to bring the negotiation to a favorable conclusion although the other party will be none the wiser.
5. The Ability To Be Flexible
Good negotiators are flexible. They quickly get to deduce areas that could create a deadlock and know just when to allow for some concession on their part so that the negotiation can move to the next stage.
Great negotiators measure the room they are allowed to operate in from the onset so that they can appear to be flexible. The other party may never know that their flexibility was false. They already know their boundary but may make it look as if they were forced to concede an issue. This gives them a chance to operate from the higher ground without the other party being aware it.
They get to ask for or receive concessions that they were angling for, without appearing to have manipulated the other party, who might think they are doing it because they want to give something back.
6. The Ability To Switch Strategies Mid-Way
Good negotiators follow up on a strategy, but are not bound to follow it to its conclusive end once they realize that the final outcome may not favor them. They have the ability to switch their style. Great negotiators can tinker with an approach in such a way that, the other party might not recognize that a switch has taken place.
Switches like this can change the dynamics of the negotiation and roll back the progress made by both parties. Great negotiators might not want this to happen so they adopt an approach that gently changes the course of the negotiation until it is set on a path that will give them the required outcome.
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