4 steps to establish control in a negotiation
The secret to gaining the upper hand in negotiation is to give the other side the illusion of control.
If knowledge is power, what you really want to gain is knowledge in the interaction without really giving much information away.
Here’s how to flip the control dynamic on it’s head and enjoy the process.
- Labels
- Effective Pauses
- Calibrated Questions
- Tone of Voice
Please consider that if you’re worried about control in a negotiation, you do two things primarily: you ask closed-ended questions you already know the answer to (almost always the answer is “yes”) and you fear shutting up. You feel whoever is talking has control and you’re horrified at the prospect of letting the other person say anything other than “yes” or “you’re right”.
[see article for deep dive]
Most relevant during:
PMF phase
GTM Fit phase
Scale phase
Most relevant for:
ACVs < $15K
ACVs $15K-$50K
ACVs > $50K
