Negotiate As If You Own the Place
If you don’t stand up for yourself, who will?
Our company recently had a situation where a partner didn’t treat us well.
My first instinct? Bite my tongue and let it go. This partner is important to our business. I didn’t know if it was worth a fight.
Fortunately, one of my executives felt differently.
He saw that we had been wronged. He called the partner out, and he asked them to make it right.
They did.
And it inspired me to write a little bit about negotiation—a lesson I temporarily forgot: never believe you’re less than anyone else, or that you deserve less than you really do.
***
A negotiation is all about balancing power.
And that power is usually weighted toward one party—at least at first.
A vendor, client, or partner may have the money, the contract, the leverage in their favor. It’s easy to tell yourself that you only have one choice: to take what they offer and deal with it.
Effectively, you’re telling yourself you aren’t good enough. It isn’t true.
Even when you are in the less powerful position—especially when you are in the less powerful position—negotiate as if you own the place.
- Get clear on the value you provide
- Get clear on the respect you deserve
- Get clear on the outcome you’re looking for
Always start from a position of confidence in what you bring to the table.
It’s not easy to do. But history is full of David and Goliath stories. In many cases, standing up for yourself is so unexpected that you just might get what you want.
But you’ll never know until you ask.
***
Of course, you won’t always be the less powerful party in a negotiation.
And here’s where you have to be mindful. Because negotiating as if you own the place is less appealing when you have all the power.
There’s a line between getting what you deserve and being a bully.
Everyone should walk away from a negotiation with a win. Maybe you don’t get everything you asked for, but you have something to hold on to.
Because negotiating isn’t purely transactional. It isn’t a zero-sum game.
Approaching it that way might give you short-term victories. But long-term, you won’t be the kind of person or company people want to work with.
Negotiation is about relationships. It’s about two sides coming together to find a path forward that’s feasible for everyone.
I want you to be confident in what you bring to the table. Just recognize that the other side brings something as well.
