While landmen don’t necessarily sign up for heated debates and negotiation when choosing their profession, it often comes with the turf. To be a successful landman, you must be able to effectively negotiate, debate, and persuade. Here are a few tactics to help you do just that:
- Come Prepared. It’s not always possible to enter a negotiation fully prepared, but do your best to crunch numbers and run through potential scenarios before getting to the negotiation table. Coming prepared means doing research on what’s being negotiated and who you are negotiating with. When you understand the party on the other side of the table, you are better able to speak to them and not at them.
- Have a Bottom Line. Have you ever entered a negotiation without an absolute bottom line in mind? Odds are you probably came out short of where you wanted to be. When negotiating, it’s absolutely crucial to know your parameters. Otherwise, you may end up getting a lot less than you want or can afford.
- Make the First Offer. You often hear people say it’s never a good idea to make the first offer, but one piece of research suggests the opposite is true. Because there is a common belief that “you get what you pay for,” offering a price or deal that is initially high may be good. It forces the other party to focus on the positives, not the negatives of the deal. It is suggested that the best first offer is one that is barely outside your negotiation partner’s range of comfort.
- Rank Priorities. In the same way it’s important to go into a negotiation with an absolute bottom line, it’s also crucial to rank priorities. Deals are rarely contingent on one factor. Instead, they often consist of multiple variables that can be adjusted and negotiated. When entering a negotiation situation, know which of those variables are priorities and which are not. This allows you to “win some” and “lose some.”
- Set a Deadline. If the negotiation is happening over an extended period of time, sometimes the setting of a forced deadline can accelerate and streamline the process. If you want to gain the upper hand in a negotiation and feel confident you can get what you’re asking for, a hard deadline may benefit your position by forcing the other party to make a decision.
Keep these five tips in mind next time you find yourself in a negotiation situation. Your success in a negotiation is rarely determined by what you’re asking for. It almost always comes down to how effectively you can negotiate.
