Negotiating with a WAO factor

Negotiations don’t need a WOW! Factor; they need a WAO factor, and that’s what most people tend to overlook.

For most people, negotiations are about the bottom line – how low are you prepared to sell or how high are you prepared to buy? But what happens if you reach a stalemate when the other side won’t go any further? By focusing only on your ultimate position, you’ve set yourself up for potential failure, because if you don’t do that particular deal then you’ve lost and there’s nowhere to go.

That’s why you need the WAO factor – a Walk Away Option. You need a firm idea of what you’ll do if you can’t get what you want on the conditions that you’re prepared to accept. This applies whether it’s a work issue, like clinching a sales deal, or a personal financial transaction, like buying a house, or even a private discussion about where to go on holiday. At the back of your mind you need to be ready for the next step when you can’t get what you want.

A negotiation is much more about the other side than it is about you, because it’s much easier to control your strategy and actions than it is to control the other party. One of the smartest tactics is to work out what the other side wants: not just the price-tag but also the timing, terms, and options, and to get a handle on just what is most important for them. Often you’ll find there’s some detail that means little to you but is hugely important to the other side. You can give them something that they perceive as a substantial additional benefit without any great additional cost to yourself.

Once you know what the other party wants, the trick is to find a way to let them get that while at the same time getting what you want. If you’re desperately fixated on your own check-list, you weaken your position. Get a clear idea of what you’ll do if it all breaks down and be ready to take it from there if you have to.
In any negotiation, there are 4 steps to establishing your Walk Away Option

1.    Analyse all the possible alternatives
2.    Develop these various alternatives to see just what is involved if the negotiation goes down any particular route
3.    Evaluate the possible attitudes and actions of the other side
4.    Decide on a definitive option for yourself to face each possible alternative outcome

Remember, it’s all about that WAO factor and the stronger party is always the one with a clearly defined Walk Away Option.

This is a guest post by Bob Harvey, the author of Marshall-Cavendish’s “Tork & Grunt’s Guide to Business Skills.” The first book, on the subject of negotiation was rated ‘best in its class’ by Management Today.