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Negotiating Skills for Every Professional

May 15, 2012 by Careerminds

Jennifer Fry
Careerminds Consultant

 

Negotiating skills can get you far in your career transition and beyond– good skills will get you far ahead, and bad skills will leave you far behind. It’s not just about salary, either. Take it from salespeople and marketers, selling your “product” (aka: your skills, experience, etc.) may take some negotiating, as well.
To help you along the way– pitching your skills to an interviewer, negotiating starting salary and benefits, discussing raises and promotions, and so on– here are some tips to help strengthen your powers of persuasion.

  • Practice. Consider putting your negotiating skills to work when you’re out as a consumer– button missing from that blouse you’ve got your eye on? Try to reach a deal with the salesperson. Often, people are nervous about negotiating because they lack confidence, so practice when you can to polish your skills and gain confidence.
  • Prepare. They say that the negotiator with the most information will win out in the end, so make sure that negotiator is you. Do your research on the situation, whatever it may be.
  • Build trust. Others are more likely to concede to or compromise with you if they trust what you have to say, so try to think of your interview or meeting as a relationship-building situation as well as a negotiation. That way, you’ll be more likely to focus on the personal aspects of the discussion, such as mutual interests, while also setting yourself up for success.
  • Present with strength. Use a strong voice when presenting your offer or making a request. A weak voice can be a signal to the other person that you’d be willing to make a greater concession.
  • Have a good alternative. It’s probable that some negotiations won’t go 100% your way, so be prepared with a plan B that is still just as appealing to you as plan A, but may speak more to what your negotiating partner has in mind, as well.

While we’re not all professional salespeople, we should all know at least a little bit about successful negotiating that can help get us where we want to be, whether that is in a new position, a better position, or a higher paying position.

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Careerminds provides scalable, strategic solutions to organizations seeking affordable, web-based outplacement services. Using a Web 2.0 e-learning platform that delivers affordable, online career transition services, Careerminds provides a high-tech and high-touch blend of on-demand career transition education supported by senior-level career consultants to help displaced workers reenter the workforce quickly.

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