Understanding Need – If you are a good negotiator, you would begin with understanding the need of the opposite party. Only after you get that understanding will you proceed further. The first requirement is to find out what the other person wants. If you are arguing with your spouse about which restaurant to go for dinner, find out his/her need. Do they want to have dinner outside or they are looking to get away somewhere for sometime? if later is the case, your choices increase many times.

Specifying Your Needs – Please spell out your needs clearly to the opposite party. Let them know very clearly about what you are looking for. If your boss knows that your real need is not rise in pay, but higher status, he/she can work out a solution quickly. Therefore please convey your needs clearly.

Reaching Understanding – This is the result both of you are seeking. If both the parties can modulate their needs so that they meet each other’s expectations, this can be done easily. Flexibility at this stage depends upon how much both of you are interested in negotiation. If both of you want a result without hurting the relationship, flexible approach is a primary requirement. Otherwise, one of you will walk away. Your skill as a negotiator depends upon satisfying you, the other party and getting a good result. You need to develop good thinking skills, communication ability and an understanding of the personalities and what drives them to act. Test yourself about these factors and find out how good a negotiator are you?

Here I will explore the Secret of successful negotiation which I have discovered over the years.

SET YOUR GOAL:

First you should know what you want to achieve. Like before starting your car you should know where you want to end up.

EDUCATE YOUR SELF IN THE SUBJECT:

Always gather the basic information and Knowledge about the subject before commencing to negotiations. You can not negotiate unless you are not willing to challenge the validity of the fact of opponent.

ACT AS AN INNOCENT:

If you will start “I am new to this”, “I don’t know” “you have great knowledge”, “thanks for educating me”. You will find opponent try to rush in to help you out. And he will reveal the fact and knowledge which he wants to cover.

FOLLOW 70/30 RULE:

Listen 70 percent of the time and talk only 30 of time. When you listen carefully enough, you may discover the true motives of opponent, and the rock bottom deal may get out form opponent mouth.

KNOW THE STATE OF MIND OF YOUR OPPONENT:

If you can read the mind of your opponent it means you hit the road. You should analysis how much desperate opponent is for closing his deal? What pressure he is caring to close the deal? This will help you to mold him according to your wish.

“NO” & “WHY” KEY OF NEGOTIATION:

Make the opponent impatient by asking for what he wants and then refusing to take “No” for an answer. In this situation he will come up with new deal, now this is the time you should ask “why” I should accept this deal. This will again compel him to give you the best deal.

DON’T OPEN YOUR CARD FIRST:

If you will purpose something for closing the deal it may possible you could not get the best form your opponent.

1. Silence

The silence left by an interviewer is not an invitation to babble or a license to ramble. In fact, it is a calculated tactic used by many a sophisticated employer to make you do precisely that. Avoid breaking the silence and above all don’t lose your cool. Stay casual and relaxed, maintain your friendly demeanor and wait for the employer to break the silence. Remember in an interview the nonverbal cues you give are being observed as closely as your words, tone and diction.

2. Tell Me A Little About Yourself

Stick to business and to those aspects of yourself that specifically related to the job at hand. This is not the time to pretend to enjoy soccer if you don’t know how many people play in a team, who won the last World Cup and what the rules of the game are. Nor is it the time to reveal personal information that has no bearing to the professional setting and might impede your chances of success. This is your chance to really sell yourself and expound on all those character traits, accomplishments and success stories that have a direct bearing on the job. Reassert why you are there and your interest in the position and reaffirm why you are uniquely qualified and suitable for the role at hand. Substantiate your claims with concrete and positive examples from your past experience that reflect on your abilities, aptitudes and values. Show that you understand the requirements of the role and portray yourself in the best light possible to occupy that role by virtue of your goals, interests, strengths, skills and past successes.

3. Tell Me a Story

Trust us, the interviewer is not interested at this specific moment in pop culture, nursery rhymes or the sequel to the latest blockbuster. He is interested in his bottom line and in finding a candidate who can augment that while being a pleasant and welcome member of the team. Stay focused on why you are there and what the interviewer is looking for. Asking a question to get the conversation back on the most relevant professional track is your best course of action. “What would you like to hear about?” may narrow the parameters but then again the interviewer may not be forthcoming. You can then volunteer “Can I tell you about why I am here today and why I truly believe I am uniquely suitable for this specific job” and proceed to reiterate with passion and sincerity why you firmly believe you are unequivocally the best person for the job.

4. Why Should We Hire You?

This question delivered sometimes in a condescending manner may come at a late stage of the interview by which time you thought you’d already expounded on all your virtues or it may be used as a shocker right at the beginning. Either way don’t be discouraged or exasperated. Use it to drive home exactly why you believe you are uniquely and fundamentally and beyond any shade of a doubt qualified for the very specific role being discussed. This is where your homework comes into play and you need to really understand what the employer is looking for in terms of skills, strengths, values, track record and cultural fit. Align your goals and interests with the employer’s and reiterate that you are confident you can not only meet the deliverables and perform the requirements of the role but really excel! Show confidence, enthusiasm and energy without being boastful or arrogant. Above all be sincere. Your sincere and honest interest in the job and faith that you will perform beyond all your expectations will communicate itself to the employer better than any canned superlatives and coined metaphors.

5. What kind of people do you find it difficult to work with?

Every workplace has its unique personalities and character profiles, some less ideal to work with than others. This is not the time to point fingers, generalize, compartmentalize or wax lyrical about your ideal team environment. Show you are tolerant, flexible, easygoing and able to get along with practically anyone and resolve conflicts professionally and productively. Say you understand everyone brings to the table their very own skills, strengths and experiences, that you enjoy the challenge of working with new people and can really appreciate the differences. Emphasize that you are a teamplayer who enjoys interacting with and bouncing ideas off of others and thrives on the feedback and reinforcement, the energy and vitality inherent in effective and collaborative teamwork.

6. How do you handle stress?

Stress is an inevitable part of life and the employer needs to hear you realize that and have already mastered the art of recognizing stress and coping with it effectively. Mention that you take time to really think through a situation before reacting and never allow matters to blow out of proportion or lose your calm. Give an example of a particularly stressful project you worked on and how you managed to reduce the stress level through proper planning, organization time management. Show you have an arsenal of real stress-busting habits too which successfully serve you in ameliorating stress whether they be yoga, running once a week, meditation at night, swimming, meeting up with friends, or some other sport, hobby or activity that shows you positively for the well-rounded person you are.

7. What was your biggest failure?

Obviously this is potentially your opportunity to talk yourself out of the job so be very careful and above all don’t bring up a failure that has any impact or ramifications whatsoever on the job at hand. You may bring up something relatively insignificant that happened very early in your career and turn it into a story of remedial action and great success as directly affects and impacts your potential for contribution to the present job. Demonstrate that you have dramatically learned and grew from that experience. You may mention for instance a formal training program you really wanted to get into that you were not permitted to join and how that forced you to pursue your own learning tangent which actually proved much more rich, fruitful and relevant to your chosen career path. Or talk about an account you lost very early on in your career due to sheer inexperience and how you instantly took remedial action, learned from your mistakes, took the counsel and advice of your boss and mentors and won the account back and have since made them into one of your biggest customers.

8. To what do you attribute your success?

The interviewer probably wants to verify that you really are successful professional at this stage by gauging your sincerity when you respond to this question. He/she is also interested in your value system and character. Mention some of the values you hold most dear to you – honesty, integrity, character, discipline, and mention that you are an energetic, ambitious “doer” who has always been very persistent, organized and disciplined in setting and meeting goals. Don’t be arrogant or over-confident when answering this question or ramble on endlessly as this is also a “likability” question. Remember to attribute some of the success to the wonderful people you have been blessed to work/ learn with – whether it is a unique boss, mentor, teacher, peer or group of people.

9. Describe a situation where you were faced with a problem that had no precedent?

This question probes your problem-solving and analytical skills. How well can you think outside the box, wrap your mind around a particular quandary, get the full measure of it and formulate the means and method to resolve it in an exemplary fashion? This question is especially relevant in the case of start-up companies or divisions, consultancy roles and many positions which require braving uncharted territory and designing new systems and procedures and operating apparatus. You need to show creativity, clarity of thought, confidence in your analytical and problem-solving skills and willingness to take a risk and create your own precedent.

10. How do you deal with difficult customers?

Give an example of a difficult client you had to work with and how you maintained the relationship and made it profitable by really listening to him, respecting his needs, issues and constraints, following-up rigorously, maintaining very high professional standards and not allowing ego to get in the way. Chose an example where you were able to really turn the situation around to everyone’s advantage.

11. What has been your greatest accomplishment?

Choose a significant success story and make sure you position it in terms of how it positively impacts your potential for success in the new role. Give facts and figures to elaborate if possible. You may want to talk about winning the most important account in the industry if that is relevant to the job at hand, about your relationships with clients which have won you an unrivalled track record at client retention, or about exceeding ambitions goals through hard work, perseverance, client follow-up, effective communication and cohesive teamwork. Show how you mobilized resources and gained approvals and how you then carried through to successful implementation and follow-up without losing sight of either the big picture or the details and while effectively negotiating several difficulties on the way.

12. What is your ideal work environment?

Emphasize your flexibility and your ability to be productive, happy and efficient in any number of environments. This is not the time to demand the corner office with the park view or uninterrupted close-door policy. Versatility goes a long way in today’s fluid workplaces and you need to show that you are able to focus on the job at hand and “fit in” seamlessly regardless of extraneous factors be they the physical surroundings, team dynamics or general level of noise and activity in the office. Indicate examples of how you have managed to excel in the past in suboptimal work environments and done so quite happily. Convey that you like the challenge of fitting into a new role and know from your history and track record that you can adapt immediately regardless of the environment.

Regards…..

Muhammad Naveed Rahmat

Email: naveed.rahmat@gmail.com

Be very professional and tactful in announcing your resignation and make sure you go through the proper channels of command resigning to your immediate boss first and then announcing your departure to your peers and colleagues. Do not let word of your intention to depart filter through the grapevine before you have announced your intentions to your boss.

2. Give sufficient notice

Consult your company’s policies and procedures for the proper notice period and make sure you give sufficient notice. If the company asks you to stay a little longer you are under no obligation to but if you have no other pressing priorities it may be a good idea to prolong your stay as a gesture of goodwill to ease the transition and complete any unfinished tasks.

3. Write a letter of resignation

Always follow your verbal resignation with a written resignation letter. Make this short, tactful, professional and to the point. Your resignation letter should be sued as an added opportunity to maintain a positive rapport with your old employer; it should not be sued as an opportunity to voice grievances or vent any bad feelings you have towards the company.

4. Ask for a reference letter

You don’t want to wait till you need a reference to ask for one as people you work with leave and in time you may lose track of them and the stellar work you did for them may be forgotten. Use your resignation time while you are still fresh in the company’s mind to ask for all the references you need so you have them in hand when you do need them.

5. Offer to help find a replacement

One gesture of good will is to offer to help find a replacement for yourself. This is usually very well-received as no one knows the intricacies of your job better than you do and you are likely to have more time to devote to the task than anyone else.

6. Do a proper hand-over

Make sure your work is well-documented, all outstanding tasks and projects are assigned to the relevant parties and you have done all you can to ease the transition. Make your handover documentation as informative, detailed and polished as possible so you look good to your successor, bosses and peers well after your departure.

7. Finish important projects

Don’t leave any loose strings. Make sure all important projects are completed or reassigned. You will be remembered positively if you have allowed for a smooth, professional and effortless transition. If you have no immediate next job or assignment that awaits you, offer to stay longer until that important deal or project is closed. Even if you must rush off to your next job after the notice period, you can choose to offer to be available by phone or email or during weekends for a little while after your departure to ease the transition if the company needs you.

8. Don’t bad-mouth the company

Make sure you leave on good terms and do not burn any bridges. You may well end up working with the same team in some capacity or other in the future or needing their reference so do not take your resignation as an opportunity to bad-mouth bosses or colleagues no matter what you really think of them.

9. Don’t leave your office in a mess

Clear your office, computer and files before you depart and leave nothing personal behind. Make sure your files are in order and your office, desk and drawers are clean, orderly and ready to be handed over to your successor. If you are not a very organized person by nature, make an extra effort to leave your house in order before you depart so as to leave a positive lasting impression.

10. Do say good-bye to your colleagues

Don’t leave abruptly – make sure you say your friendly goodbyes to all the people you have shared your days with. Emphasize the positive when you bid your farewells and do not use this as an opportunity to boast about your new pay packet or dig up old grievances or traumas. Leave your peers your contact details so they can choose to stay in touch with you in the future.

Regards…..

Muhammad Naveed Rahmat

Email: naveed.rahmat@gmail.com