In my first experience with negotiation, a human resources rep at a publishing company offered me $24,000 a year for an entry-level gig. Having been coached never to take a first offer, I responded, “Is there any way you can do better?” A day later I was ecstatic to accept her second offer of $24,500. The victory, however small, set me up to be willing to negotiate the next time an opportunity arose.
"I don't think it makes any difference if you're negotiating for the release of a hostage or trying to get a better price on a used car, the principles of being an effective negotiator are the same," says Russell Korobkin, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of a leading law school textbook, Negotiation: Theory and Strategy, 2nd edition. There are a few ways you can become a better negotiator.
#1 Be fair. "Good negotiators should always think about how they can show the proposal they're making is fair to both parties," Korobkin says. "Fairness" does not have one exact definition, but social psychology studies suggest that an offer people consider fair is one that is similar to what other people in the same situation are getting, consistent with market prices or terms, or on par with a similar transaction you have made in the past. "If the deal is fair," he adds, "the person you're negotiating with never has to feel like they're being taken advantage of, and it'll make it easier for him to say yes."
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Source material from Scientific American