How can you invent influence and leverage for yourself in negotiations?

Is there a negotiation skills way to counter the power held by your counterparts in negotiations?

There is a way to constantly develop power for yourself whilst at the same time challenging the power of your counterparts. If you consistently apply this technique, you will be rewarded with a significant improvement in the quality of the deals that you conclude.

Much has been written about the power that can be found in negotiations. Below are some examples of the things that might provide you with some power, which you would have come across in your sales negotiation training:

* Status & position (you or your position may be held in high regard)

* Physical appearance (you may be big physically or be deemed to be physically attractive)

* Organisational position (your business may be considered powerful)

Whilst the aforementioned are examples of some of the things that may award power on you or your counterpart in negotiations, without a shadow of a doubt, a very important factor to creating influence for yourself in negotiations is to develop alternatives. You will never have as much power in a transaction as you will have if you are not restricted to one option only. If you can place yourself in a position where all you have to do is choose between options, then you will always ensure that you have both authority and leverage in negotiations.

The funny thing is that whilst we do think of alternatives when we negotiate we tend to make 2 key mistakes:

1. We think about alternative options too late in the negotiation process. Typically, we only begin to think about other possibilities when we realise that we are in a stalemate or in a difficult position. The problem with thinking about alternatives late in the negotiation process is that we might find ourselves in a position where we have no time left and then we may be forced to agree an outcome we would have preferred to avoid. The key to effectively developing alternatives is to do so even before you start negotiating.

2. We do not really invest ourselves in creating alternatives. Whilst we may think about alternatives, often we do not put in place exact actions to develop these alternatives. It is key that once we've identified possible alternatives that we actively engage in exploring these alternatives. If you want both power and leverage in your negotiations, then you will have no option but to explore fully all the alternatives available to you. As a matter of fact, you may even have to invent some options if there seems to be no alternatives available.

Remember that successful negotiations and creativity go hand in hand. Here's a word of caution though. Use your negotiation training, because you should carefully think about whether you should let your counterparty know about the alternatives that you have at your disposal. If you are in a very competitive negotiation environment then there is not much harm in letting your counterpart know that you have many alternatives available. However, if you are in a collaborative environment, it may be best to not openly disclose the alternatives available to you as this may have a counterproductive impact on your relationships.

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