Master these negotiation skills to succeed at work (and beyond)

Whether you’re conscious of it or not, negotiation is an integral part of our everyday lives. When you review a job offer, seek a raise, propose a deal to prospects, or ask your kids to do their chores for once — you’re negotiating. We even negotiate with ourselves in a hundred little ways throughout the day (“alright, I’ll treat myself to some ice cream in exchange for a longer walk than usual”). 

But too often, people end up selling themselves short when negotiating for things with larger stakes, like job benefits or sales deals. In this five-part Prezi Video series from Robert Kienzle, a Senior Consultant at professional training and coaching company Knowmium, he details hands-on ways to improve your negotiation skills and let everyone walk away satisfied. 

Part 1: The 3 Ps

Going into a negotiation unprepared is doing yourself a disservice. That’s why Robert recommends following the three Ps of negotiation: planning, prioritizing, and practicing. The more you work on these initial steps, both before and during your negotiation, the better the outcome. He also introduces an activity to do with a friend to create a “benchmark negotiation.” Watch the video here:

Part 2: What went right (and what went wrong)

Once you’ve completed the activity from part 1, Robert provides context on the other side’s perspective, as well as the typical final offer range he’s seen. He then provides a thorough debrief of this initial negotiation process, including some common mistakes people make. The activity highlighted in this Prezi video — filling out a hypothetical negotiation plan — will help you better apply these tips to your negotiation skills: 

Part 3: The core elements of a negotiation 

With a better understanding of where negotiations can fall flat, Robert then covers three important acronyms: WWW (wish, want, walk), ZOPA (zone of possible agreement), and BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). These three principles will be key to improving your negotiation skills and expertly balancing the desires of both parties, and you’ll be able to apply the concepts to a recent or upcoming negotiation of your own: 

Part 4: Finding value beyond money 

In business negotiations, there’s often an outsized focus on monetary value, but that only limits the ZOPA. In this Prezi video, Robert discusses how you can find value in other ways, such as vacation time and flex days during a job negotiation, or personalized onboarding sessions for sales deals. He also leaves you with an activity to help you quantify the non-monetary benefits you value and how you can leverage them in a negotiation: 

Part 5: Applying what you’ve learned in a live negotiation 

Now comes the hardest part. You can prepare extra thoroughly beforehand, but once you enter the room (or video call) with the other party, you can’t predict what path your negotiation will take. In the final part of his Prezi Video series, Robert leaves you with five useful tips to help you be successful during any negotiation:

By watching these five videos (and completing the accompanying activities), you should now have a better grasp of which negotiation skills you already excel at and which ones you still need to develop. Find even more Prezi videos on negotiation on our Video Gallery. Or, if you have your own tips to share, create a video and tag it with #Negotiation for a chance to be featured.