The Negotiation Book: Your Definitive Guide To Successful Negotiating

4.5. 5. INSTINCT:

Trust it, it's more often right than not

Experience and 'gut feeling' or what some refer to as a 'sixth sense' is a trait which effective negotiators refer to as instinct. Instinct helps the Complete Skilled Negotiator to:

• hear not just what is being said but the meaning behind the words; and

• gauge honesty, and sense if the deal is too good to be true or if there is more scope to negotiate.

It is beyond the rational thinking process used to work things through or understand the practicalities of the proposals which are being made. Your ability to read the situation will allow you to judge your response and the counter proposals you make. If it seems too good to be true, it usually is and you should trust your instinct when you are faced with such a situation.

Most people have good instincts, yet under pressure do not always listen to them. They choose instead to accept the case placed before them and conform rather than challenge. As an effective negotiator you should have the courage of your convictions and challenge anything that does not 'feel' right.

Instinct also helps you to weigh up questions such as, are their motives consistent with their behaviour? In other words, they are the questions you ask of yourself and your team of how you see the situation, based on more than the numbers alone. For instance, when negotiating in Partnership at 11 o'clock, observations around trust and the sustainability of the relationship will be made up of the views you form ...