“From the time you get up in the morning until the time you go to bed at night, you are continually negotiating, communicating, persuading others to cooperate with you to do the things that you want them to do,” says negotiating expert Brian Tracy, top-selling author of more than 45 books.

Tracy lives to see the world and has traveled and worked in over 80 countries on six continents, and speaks four languages. He estimates more than five million people have heard him speak

Prior to becoming an internationally known keynote speaker and seminar leader, Tracy was the chief operating officer of a $265 million development company. He has had successful careers in sales and marketing, investments, real estate development and syndication, importation, distribution, and he continues to provide high level consulting to several billion-dollar plus corporations in strategic planning and organizational development.

Five Ways to Better Deals

Tracy has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. Culled from this research, here are his five top tips for making deals:

  1. Prepare thoroughly. The most important negotiating tactic is thorough and complete preparation in advance of the negotiation or discussion. Before I go into a negotiation, I know exactly who I am speaking with and precisely which points I would like to discuss.
  2. Deal making never stops. Negotiation is the way that individuals with differing values and interests find constructive ways to live and work together in harmony. The ability to negotiate successfully with exemplary interpersonal skills is essential to success in all your interactions with other people.
  3. Think from other point of view. The best deal-making advice I have received is to think through the negotiation from the point of view of the other person before you begin discussions. When you do this, you are able to foresee their objections and you are prepared with educated and well thought out answers.
  4. Ask for what you want. I have also learned that the top negotiators will quite calmly and confidently ask for any kind of price or term that is remotely within reason. You will be quite astonished at the better deals you will get by simply asking for a lower price if you’re buying and asking for a higher price if you’re selling. Ask for what you want. Ask politely. Ask expectantly. Ask optimistically. Ask courteously. Ask repeatedly. Ask in different ways. But never be afraid to ask.
  5. Aim for happy. The best deal-making secret sauce is to seek for an agreement with which both parties are happy, and both parties are committed to carrying out the terms upon which they have agreed. When both parties are happy with the decision they are more likely to work harder towards the common goal and produce better work.

“The key negotiating practice that I keep coming back to is thorough preparation, including thinking through the issues from the point of view of the other party, and then maintaining a friendly and cooperative spirit throughout the discussion,” says Tracy. “People want to know that you are willing to work with them and accommodate their ideas and concerns. When you come into a negotiation well prepared you are inadvertently telling them that you respect their time and wish to come to a well thought out agreement.”

Schedule a Free Consultation
arrow-down-thick arrow-down arrow-right-solidarrow-up dropdown-caret envelope-lighthbs-123 hbs-arrows-up hbs-mountains hbs-ribbons hbs-stripes hbs-university hbs-upside-down-mountains linkedinnewspaper-lightphone-alt-regularplay-circle-regularred-mountain secondary-mountain twitteruser-regularyellow-mountain youtube