Negotiate Your Way to Happiness: Part 2
By Tom Kline, Controller RK Auto Group (RK Buick, RK Chevrolet, RK Subaru, RK Scion, RK Toyota)
Our list continues with four more top negotiating tips to help you reclaim your happiness both at home and in the workplace. Follow this advice and start getting more of what you want—whether it’s a deal on your office rent, or Chinese instead of Italian this Saturday night. Don’t miss the first four tips in Negotiate Your Way to Happiness: Part 1.
- Have an open mind.
The purpose of negotiating is to work out alternatives. All possibilities should be evaluated. Rejecting ideas before they’re discussed is not only counterproductive-- it could provoke stonewalling from the other party. (Try, “How about Chinese tonight, Italian tomorrow?”)
- Showing a little emotion can be a good thing.
Revealing in a non-accusatory manner how you feel, whether it’s frustration or anger, shares something with the other side. He or she may be experiencing the same emotions, and it helps to clear the air. (Instead of “Why can’t you ever do the dinner dishes?!” try “It’s just that I’m really tired of that chore. Actually, you seem to be burned out on laundry duty—how about if we switch next week?”)
- Get your game-face on.
If you’re negotiating as a team, be sure each member participates. Have a game plan so each knows his assignment and no one speaks out of turn. (Kids, remember that new puppy you’ve always wanted? With a little strategy, you could be cuddling your new pet by tomorrow night!)
- Make negotiation a requirement in your workplace, and everyone wins.
Use negotiation rather than confrontation to settle disputes at the workplace. Personalities, ego needs, and power struggles shouldn’t take precedence over real issues. (Nowadays, our office kitchen boasts both a coffee and a cappuccino machine.)
Now that you have acquired some basic negotiating tactics, it’s time to move on to closing the deal. Continue to the RK Auto Group Negotiate Your Way to Happiness Series: Part 3.
Tom Kline is Controller of RK Auto Group (RK Buick, RK Chevrolet, RK Subaru, RK Scion, and RK Toyota). RK Chevrolet is the recipient of Chevrolet Motor Division’s coveted Service Supremacy Award four years in a row. This is an award which less than 400 of the nation's 5,000 Chevrolet dealers have won. RK Auto Group has been included in the Ward’s Auto list of top 500 U.S. car dealers, and has received the prestigious "Genuine Leaders Award" for excellence in sales, service, and customer satisfaction. The dedication of each employee at RK Chevrolet, RK Buick, RK Subaru, RK Scion and RK Toyota made these awards possible.