How To Be A Confident Negotiator

You need to be confident to successfully negotiate a pay rise, a fair tenancy agreement, a car purchase, or anything else. We give you the key to that confidence.

I'm far from a wheeler and dealer, but when it comes to the big things, like a contract of employment or a tenancy agreement, I expect to get a fair deal.You don't need a good understanding of what things are worth in order to negotiate. You don't need to compare with yours the deals that other people have managed to get. All you need to know is what you think is fair for you. Whether it's fair is individual. By 'fair' I'm referring to all the terms of a contract, not just the price.Once you've decided which parts of a deal seem fair for you and which don't, you then know which areas you should negotiate.The key to negotiating is confidence. You can't be timid and say 'I'd quite like to change this/It'd be nice to be paid a bit more'. You have to be able to say 'I'm very interested, but I'm afraid this...clause is unacceptable/salary is too low'.But how can you be that confident when the other side, the seller or employer, always seems to have the upper hand? How can you be confident that your negotiations will be successful?Actually, the answer is that it doesn't matter: you don't need to be confident of success. You won't always get everything you want when you negotiate and sometimes you'll fail utterly. That's to be expected. What you need to be confident about is the worst possible outcome if you're unsuccessful.You see, the problem is that most people grossly overestimate the consequences of failure. Usually there are no risks whatsoever. Requesting a better deal is generally a case of you have nothing to lose.Let's say you've just been offered a job. You want more money, but you don't want to rock the boat. What you're doing is seriously underestimating yourself. These people have offered you the job. They want you. If you tell them that you're worth more than they've offered, they're perfectly within their rights to withdraw their offer in theory, but they're not going to. In practice, the worst scenario is that they'll decline to increase their offer. You've lost nothing by asking, you just now have to decide whether to accept or decline the original offer, or suggest a compromise, such as a salary review in six months.It's the same with renting a property. Once a landlord or its agent has approved you and you're reviewing the contract, they're not going to go through all the effort of finding someone else just because you said they would have to amend some clauses. Worst case they'll say that they're not prepared to do it and you must, again, respond with a compromise solution, or choose to accept or reject the original deal.When you're confident that what you're asking for is fair for you, and that the risks are minimal, you'll be a confident negotiator. What's more, you've got a greater chance of success because you're feeling more relaxed!These above principles will apply to most contracts, not just jobs and renting. So let me summarise the main tips:Work out what is fair for you.Think carefully about what the worst-case scenario is. You probably have nothing to lose, so don't be paranoid!Tell the other party that you're happy apart from...the price, clause 12, paragraph four, or whatever...then tell them why you think it's unfair and what change they need to make so that the deal becomes acceptable.If they reject your demands, suggest a compromise, accept the original deal, or reject it entirely.> Read Rules That Make You Rich.