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A critical negotiation skill in your purchasing negotiations is how you go about deciding your objectives.

I want to provide you with 3 key points that we cover in our negotiation skills training courses to think about when you are planning for your negotiations.

1. What is the absolutely best outcome for you in this negotiation?

What would a absolutely wonderful deal (one that you would be delighted to agree to) look like?

We call this your aspiration base - in other words, the level at which you will aspire to close the deal.

You should remember that it is vital in your negotiation to always ask for a little more than you expect to receive. This means that you must always have an aspiration base that is higher than your targeted objective. By asking for a little more than you would like to receive you enable yourself to make a concession to your counterpart in return for a counter concession.

On the upside, you may just get what you regard to be fantastic if you ask for it! Don't make the mistake of making decisions on behalf of your counterpart by saying to yourself they will not consider that .Take note that I am not advocating that you make extreme demands - extreme requests are highly risky and dependent on the cultural context within which you are negotiating.

2. What is the absolutely minimum acceptable outcome for you in this negotiation?

At what point will you decide to stop or postpone your discussions?

If you do not decide on a specific stage at which it will no longer be possible or attractive for you to reach agreement, then you may become vulnerable to reaching an agreement that you will not be able to live with. This is vital to do as you could easily become emotionally committed to reaching agreement at all cost because you may think that your individual credibility is at stake.

3. What do you think are the aspirations and minimum acceptable transaction levels for your counterpart?

It is also important that you think about the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels from your counterparts perspective. This will never be an exact science but through proper preparation and research of supporting information you may be able to get a good view of what kind of transaction is the standard in your industry or kind of negotiation.

By thinking about the aspirations and minimum acceptable deal levels from your counterparts perspective, you will be able to identify the agreement range. Being aware of the bargaining range or zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) will help you to see if an agreement is possible or not.

Most negotiation training courses will teach you that the agreement range is defined as the area of overlap between your minimum acceptable deal level and the minimum acceptable deal levels of your counterpart.

Remember that most of your success at the negotiation table is dependent on the quality of your preparation. You should spend at least as much time preparing for negotiations as you expect to be busy negotiating. If you expect to be in negotiations for a day, then you should spend at least the same time in preparations.

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