“What should I do? I have a significant upcoming negotiation. Ideally, I would hire you to consult with me on it. But I just can’t afford your fee. What’s the next best, lower cost option for me?”
I get this question fairly frequently. Here’s my answer, which I obviously share after I have also determined that my consulting doesn’t make sense for them cost-wise. Of course, I know much of the following advice is self-serving. But hopefully this will be helpful if you’re ever in this situation.
1. Educate yourself on the experts’ proven research so you can negotiate more strategically and less instinctively
There are three pretty cost-effective ways to accomplish this.
One, if you’re a reader, get my first book Gain the Edge! Negotiating To Get What You Want (St. Martin’s Press). It’s only $18.99 and includes 378 pages of negotiation recommendations.
You can also get a free one-page summary of my Five Golden Rules of Negotiation (the first 5 chapters in the book) by just replying here or emailing Info@LatzNegotiation.com and requesting my Strategic Guide to Effective Negotiations (in a pdf).
Two, if you’re not a big reader and would prefer videos, click HERE to receive a series of 5 free videos in which I go over my Five Golden Rules – the fundamental building blocks for strategic negotiations. While not as detailed and comprehensive as my first book, this will give you the basics.
Three, take my Master Negotiation in a Day e-learning course. It’s only $299 and you’ll get an 8-hour negotiation training course that you can complete at your own pace and that includes: over 20 videos; easy-to-use strategic planning guides; practical exercises on salary negotiation, house-buying, car-selling, business partnerships and family negotiations; expert analysis of a live negotiation between two professional negotiators, and a bonus video on Impasse-Breaking Strategies.
Other than live advice from me or attendance at one of my seminars, this is your most comprehensive option. And the investment is almost certainly minimal compared to the amount on the table in your upcoming negotiation.
2. Develop and Execute a Strategic Negotiation Plan
I regularly get asked by potential consulting clients for help on “just one discrete part of my negotiation,” like how much should I offer or should I bluff on this issue?
I almost always respond that it’s crucial to address these important questions only within the context of an overall Strategic Negotiation Plan that should include an analysis of your goals, leverage, standards, offer-concession moves, agenda elements, etc.
All these strategies and tactics are necessarily interrelated. So instead of just focusing on the immediate question at hand, I strongly urge them to step back and develop a Strategic Negotiation Plan based on the afore-mentioned Five Golden Rules. Then move forward to execute that Plan.
Doing this will almost certainly and most effectively answer their “discrete” question.
Latz’s Lesson: If you want expert advice on an upcoming negotiation but don’t have the funds for my consulting, first educate yourself on the experts’ proven research and then develop and execute a Strategic Negotiation Plan for it.
* Marty Latz is the founder of Latz Negotiation, a national negotiation training and consulting company that helps individuals and organizations achieve better results with best practices based on the experts’ research. He can be reached at 480.951.3222 or Marty@LatzNegotiation.com.