Negotiate like a Pro

This week I hope to finish an article I'm writing on negotiation tactics for the August issue of Print Professional. I've interviewed a lot of great people for the piece, one of which was Professor Seth Freeman, adjunct professor of negotiation and conflict management at NYU's Stern School of Business and at Columbia University. Below is our entire conversation, which gives a few great pointers on negotiation, from specific ways to prepare to how to frame your thinking to ensure better results overall. If you like what you read, don't forget to visit www.printprofessionalmag.com in August for the full article!

Print Professional: What is a common negotiating mistake that people make?

Professor Seth Freeman: One of the most frequent mistakes that negotiators make is failing to prepare. There was a really interesting study several years ago that looked at 48 excellent negotiators and 48 mediocre negotiators. It found that one of the primary differences was not how much time the negotiators prepared, everyone said "oh I prepared a lot," but the ones who were excellent did very specific things that the mediocre ones never thought to do. 

Knowing specific ways to prepare effectively is probably one of the most important things. There was a recent study I saw that said if you do these specific preparation tasks well, it can improve the return results. It can improve the amount you actually take from the negotiations by 15, 16, 17 percent, and you can improve how much the other guy gets by 10 percent. It's hard to think of things that would improve a business person's return by that much that wouldn't be valuable, that wouldn't be of interest, but you know, a lot of people don't do it.

PPRO: Could you explain a few of these specific things people should be doing to prepare?