Essential Negotiation Tips From 3 MasterClass Instructors

Robin Roberts is an Emmy-winning Good Morning America co-anchor who has developed communication skills for on- and off-air situations. Here are some of her negotiation strategies:

1. 1. Know your worth. “Know what you’re bringing to the table,” Robin says. “Convince the person that you’re talking to of your worth, what you can bring of yourself and your creative ideas.” When preparing for a negotiation, whether it’s a higher salary negotiation or a conversation with a potential employer, make a list of traits, data points, and situations that prove your point or show your worth—your bargaining power. Use specific examples to illustrate your points. For example, write down a specific time when you needed to be a good listener and describe the payoff.
2. 2. Enter with confidence. When you enter a negotiation with confidence, make sure it’s for the right reason. “Don't feel it’s because they’re supposed to do this,” Robin says. “It’s not because they owe you anything. …It’s because doggone it, you are the right person for that job.” If you approach a negotiation with a feeling of entitlement, the other side is much more likely to feel turned off by your confidence or frustrated that you can’t understand their point of view. When you enter a negotiation without entitlement, you’re more likely to see their perspective—and you’ll recognize that you need to demonstrate your worth rather than simply expect the other side to acquiesce.
3. 3. Show your emotions. There’s a common misconception that you need to be cold and unemotional to get your way in a negotiation, but this approach may do more harm than good. “When you allow yourself to be vulnerable, you’re showing a strength, not a weakness,” she explains. “People see that. And people will thank you for that.” Robin tells the story of reporting on Hurricane Katrina, where her mother and sister were currently living. When she got emotional on live television, she thought her career was over. “I was speaking from my heart. People sensed that, rallied around me, adopted my hometown. People thanking me for being real, for understanding their pain, for understanding what they were going through.” Don’t be afraid to use your emotions to appeal to the other party.
4. 4. Listen intently. “I enjoy getting to know people,” Robin explains. “There’s an authenticity there. And people can tell the difference. They really can.” When you listen to people with genuine curiosity, they’re more likely to enjoy the conversation and come away with a positive experience. Active listening makes people feel more comfortable with you and can lead them to reciprocate by giving you their undivided attention when it’s your turn to share. Learn how to improve your communication skills in our guide to active listening.

Here are a few field-tested negotiation tactics from former FBI lead hostage negotiator Chris Voss:

1. 1. Conduct an accusations audit. An accusations audit is an exhaustive list of all the negative things the other side may think, feel, or say about your side. In bad negotiations, these negative feelings never get addressed, and they instead loom over the conversation like an elephant in the room. Good negotiators, on the other hand, are concerned with conflict resolution and will have a thorough accusations audit prepared in order to anticipate possible attacks and plan counteroffers. “Make a list,” says Chris, “and go after [the audit items] early on and quickly, fearlessly. … The elephant in the room is diminished, and eventually goes away, by you saying, ‘Hey, there’s an elephant in the room.’”
2. 2. Use mirroring. Mirroring is the conscious repetition of your counterpart’s words or body language. When you mirror, Chris explains, “the other person feels listened to, [because] I heard every word you said word for word, and I’m proving it because I just repeated it back to you.” Mirroring builds great rapport during the negotiation process, and it can help you rework the deal. “A mirror that finishes with a tone of voice of genuine curiosity is compelling. It’s powerful. People are drawn to it. They want to say more,” Chris says. “And when people go on with a further explanation, they’re going to add more words. They’re going to change their terms.”
3. 3. Treat negotiation as collaboration. “Great negotiation is about great collaboration,” Chris says. To collaborate properly, you need to understand where the other side is coming from. “Empathy is becoming completely aware of the other side's perspective, their point of view, their take on things, how they see it, and what they feel,” Chris says. “It’s not agreement in any way.” He recommends taking what you learn from your empathy and applying it to the conversation to begin problem-solving. For example, you need to understand the rules the other side is bringing to the table. When you understand their rules, you can understand how to appeal to them to find a great outcome for both parties. In Chris’s words, “I can live by your rules. Can you?”

Former Disney CEO and media visionary Bob Iger is known for his exceptional leadership qualities and business management strategies. Here are a few of his tips for developing effective negotiation skills:

• Being candid can speed things up. “I’m not a believer in stretched-out or long-term negotiations,” Bob explains. “I like to get deals done relatively quickly.” To help speed things up, Bob likes to be direct when putting things on the table, even if that means sacrificing the “upper hand.” This approach allows both sides to meet on common ground and have a discussion without trying to draw out additional information. He uses the example of negotiating with Steve Jobs for Pixar: Bob came in with the declaration that his company (The Walt Disney Company) really wanted to make the purchase. Jobs appreciated the candor, which helped him realize that Bob was taking their negotiation seriously. “There was a discussion, a negotiation with an absolute result in mind,” Bob explains. “It was a way of stripping away egos.”
• Know your goal. A successful negotiation doesn’t have to be a win-lose—a win-win outcome is possible, and, in fact, ideal. “Each party, I believe, serves better if they come away from the negotiation having felt like they've accomplished something,” Bob says. “I don’t have a winner-take-all approach when it comes to negotiations.” To ensure that the negotiation still goes smoothly, come prepared with your goal in mind (and a best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA, if things don’t go well). Keeping in mind that both parties enter negotiations with their own set of goals makes it easier to find a solution that works for both parties.

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