The golden rule....

When I tell people what I do for a living they frequently ask me if there’s one top tip I could give them, which would help them to get more from negotiations. This isn’t an easy question to answer succinctly (at least not for me), but these days I do have an answer that I’m reasonably satisfied with.

“Keep Calm and Counter Propose” addresses two of the biggest problems people have with negotiation;

·      freaking out; and

·      accepting whatever terms are offered, as soon as they’re half decent

Negotiation is tense and uncomfortable, so retaining your calm is critical to achieving better outcomes. The calmer you are, the more analytical, measured and creative you can be. You won’t be rushed and you won’t readily succumb to pressure tactics. Keeping calm, I think we can all agree, is a good thing.

Reminding people to counter propose, similarly, is extremely useful. We must always keep in mind that however good a deal is; it can probably be improved. And if we seek to increase the value in the deal, we might just increase the value in the deal. In the worst case, the other side might decline to improve the deal, but then at least you tried. More likely, they will improve their offer or counter your proposal. As long as proposals are balanced, the total value in the deal increases. So keep counter-proposing.

I’ve found that these five words resonate well with most people. They’re largely self-explanatory and unequivocally useful and, when presented in a “….special and handsome typeface…”* there’s a calming authority to them that is particularly useful for keeping a cool head in the heat of negotiation. For this reason, I had a “Keep Calm and Counter Propose” poster printed which is now framed and hangs on the wall in my office, so it’s always there for my reference.

There’s a lot more to improving your negotiation outcomes than hanging a poster on your wall. But if you ever are going into a negotiation and find yourself struggling to recall the lessons of the books you’ve read or training courses you’ve been on, “Keep Calm and Counter Propose” is simple, effective and easy to remember**.

* “…special and handsome typeface” is a quote from the short film “The Story of Keep Calm and Carry On” (see below), which tells how the original “Keep Calm and Carry On” propaganda posters were commissioned, designed and printed (but never actually issued) by the UK Government during world war two. It’s a great, informative little film (three minutes) and incidentally such a good ad for its creators, a bookstore in Alnwick called Barter Books, that it made me want to drive the three hundred miles from my home in Oxford to check them out sometime.

** If you think you might need something to jog your memory, you could buy one of the limited edition “Keep Calm and Counter Propose” mugs I’ve just commissioned for my clients and friends. Drop me a note if interested in a mug or a poster.