TWP #002 - The Ability To Negotiate Better

and why you need to rethink about it.

Thanks for making it to the second release of The Wandering Pro newsletter.

Today we will talk about a skill that we use every day when haggling with the fruit vendor.

But when it’s the time to lock in better terms for ourselves - we fail.

Negotiation

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Before we get to it, the goal here is to share insightful knowledge that you can start acting upon today.

Every week you will receive:

- Fundamental understanding of a topic
- Ways to change your perspective
- A tool, template, or action to start applying today

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There are very few skills that apply to every industry in the world and negotiation is one - benefitting every professional.

If you nail it down, you will get:

- better pay
- better terms
- better deals
- better outcomes

and even if you don’t get the better end - you won’t be strongarmed.

It is an ability that can be the dual edge you need in your arsenal.

Fundamentals → Answered

Let’s get the core requirement of negotiation out of the way first:

If you can't afford to walk away, you can't negotiate

Hold on to this thought, we will get back to it.

Perspective → Shifted

Negotiation is a battle between what you want vs what is on the table. The best case for you is to be in a win-win situation.

Unfortunately, in today’s world, a true win-win is rarely achieved.

Most of the time when you think you won - it turns out the other person was better at negotiating than you.

You come away from the interaction saying:

“Ah it was the best they had to offer me, I should go for it”

“They are right, market is pretty bad right now, I better stick to what I get"

“It makes sense that no one got a raise, the economy is doing poorly'“

And the list goes being seldom a realistic portrayal of what happened.

In actuality, you got played, the moment you don’t question the deal anymore is either when you are in a win, or when ‘you think’ you won.

It’s not like I can just walk away?

Well it doesn’t have to be like that.

You can let go of the fear of walking away - with

Leverage

And there are types of leverage:

Need people to sign up for your newsletter?
- Need leverage of past shared knowledge

Need new jobs to give you a better package?
- Need leverage of good work experience

Need people to pay to talk to you?
- Need leverage of renowned wisdom

Need people to understand you better?
- Need leverage of communication

One more for funsies, need clients to stop scope creeping on your projects?
- Need leverage of documentation

See what happened there? It's called unlocking a new perspective.

You're welcome.

Negotiations are an exchange of leverages

I have none of the things listed above, how can I do better?

Well, you have the most important thing then, your time!
Learn to leverage your time -

Next time:
- Instead of working a contract for cheaper, ask to work less for a fixed amount of time and then expect better terms
- Instead of randomly easy applying for jobs on Linkedin, take the time to learn a skillset
- Instead of seeking entertainment all the time, seek knowledge in profitable domains

If you don't have the leverage of knowledge, experience, or wisdom - then you are (probably) young - put the time in.

Your time, with time, becomes your leverage.

You got the leverage, you got the fundamentals - now what?

Let’s execute

Actions → Delivered

Ever seen this image:

Or this image:

Or many, many, many SaaS tools and platforms showing their various pricing models.

It’s a very successful pricing model method hence the whole industry has adopted it.

Even when the differences aren’t that much, they want you to pick the most profitable option for them.

Why not apply the same logic to your career?

In most companies, time for a raise comes around, you get called for a very short interview/call - you get slapped on whatever ‘is the best’ they can do.

I know friends who didn’t get a raise just because they didn’t ‘dress professionally’ through the year.

You need to prepare for your next round of negotiation.

Try this, which has worked for me on several occasions by now - introducing the Salary as a Service pricing plan (patent pending ofcourse)

Link here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oYeESXEQEhRFJVt1mIWww1drLbELLKC_6ONhWbefZew/edit#gid=987175678

Duplicate to your google sheets

Here’s the process to use the template:

1. Fill in your key current responsibilities in 2C

2. 3B is the compensation that you are fine with if there are no changes in responsibilities at the time of the appraisal

3. 4B is the compensation you want to be at given you are willing to help the company achieve more by offering more value

4. 5B is in the case you have been with a company for at least 3-5 years and are now in the position to partner

And the next time someone asks you, where do you see yourself in 5 years?

You bring this up, in your head of course.

Having this information documented will help you in two ways:

1 - It will always serve as a source leverage for your next round of negotiations with any executive

2 - It will serve as a check for the company’s ability to sustain your growth and the value you are providing to them

In the end

If you grow professionally faster than what the workplace can offer you

You need to to walk away

(Maybe the company needs to read some employee retention newsletters, wink wink)

Thank you for reading this week’s issue of The Wandering Pro

As always any feedback is highly appreciated, feel free to respond with what you would like to see more of.

See you next Monday!