COURSE OVERVIEW
Negotiation is a critical management skill that has become increasingly essential across businesses and organizations. It can enhance your reputation when successful or have the opposite effect if deals fail or outcomes fall short of expectations. This training provides participants with essential strategies for deal-making, bridging gaps between “barely acceptable” agreements and “winning” outcomes, while equipping them with the skills to negotiate effectively in complex scenarios.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will learn to:
- Prepare for and succeed in high-profile or challenging negotiated deals
- Recognize opportunities to “bridge gaps” in proposals and dispute resolution
- Manage conflict effectively using five coping strategies
- Anticipate and defend against negotiation tactics from other parties
- Apply power, determination, and firmness to gain an advantage in discussions and bargaining
- Minimize the risk of implementation failure by learning from personal and organizational experience
TARGET AUDIENCE
This course is designed for personnel who lead negotiation strategies, as well as sales professionals, purchasing agents, and marketing representatives seeking deeper insights into negotiation techniques.
TRAINING METHODOLOGY
This highly interactive course emphasizes practical application. Participants engage in exercises, simulations, and discussions in a “no-risk” environment that fosters challenge, collaboration, and fun. Opportunities for peer feedback and coaching enhance learning. Pre- and post-course assessments evaluate participants’ skill development and the effectiveness of the training.
COURSE CONTENTS
Module 1 – The Why and How of Negotiation
Key topics:
- Personal impact factors that influence persuasion and convincing others
- Nine techniques for building personal influence
- Alternatives to negotiation to save time and resources
- Common reasons negotiations fail
- Profile of a skilled negotiator and how to achieve it
- Cultural and international considerations in negotiations
- Critical phases for successful negotiation
- Planning objectives, assessing limits, motives, and potential moves
- Practical one-to-one negotiation exercises
- Observation-based self-assessment and feedback
Module 2 – Bridging Gaps and Overcoming Obstacles
Key topics:
- Building flexibility into proposals
- Opening strategies and creating the right negotiation atmosphere
- Methods to establish or undermine trust
- Conducting needs analysis to leverage or balance power
- Eight tactics to advance agreements
- Making concessions without showing weakness
- Analyzing bargaining power, dependency, and relationships
- Breaking impasses
- Perception factors in negotiation
- Pair-based negotiation exercises and practical feedback
- Inventory of personal interactive and persuasion skills
Module 3 – Negotiating Through Conflict
Key topics:
- Push/pull communication and persuasion techniques
- Handling stereotypical behavior and “deal-busting” tactics
- Reading and analyzing non-verbal communication
- Facilitating problem-solving approaches
- Positional versus principled negotiation strategies
- Identifying conflict patterns and countermeasures
- Five approaches to handling threatening conflict
- Setting objectives in dynamic environments
- Task- versus people-centered negotiation approaches
- Advanced practical exercises
Module 4 – Team Negotiation Strategies in Practice
Key topics:
- Team roles, selection, and organization
- Balancing individual needs and team objectives
- Best practices for team size and control
- Effective goal-setting and strategy development
- Advantages and limitations of team negotiations
- Building team cohesion and commitment
- Managing competitive dynamics within teams
- Understanding psychological strategies and long-term influence
- Team formation and adaptation effects on strategy
- Advanced practical team exercises
Module 5 – Learning from Experience as a Skilled Negotiator
Key topics:
- Achieving personal and organizational negotiation success
- Ensuring transfer of learning to real-world scenarios
- Self-improvement strategies: focus, listening, and attention
- Scaling results through personal diaries and reflection
- Developing personal negotiation tactics
- Learning from opponents and organizational experience
- Continuing development with personal action plans and checklists
