Time and information are two critical elements in any negotiation. To get these elements on your side, you must realize one very important fact: the negotiation process begins long before you ever meet with the other party.
Time
Most people think negotiation starts and ends when the two parties actually meet. Nothing could be further from the truth.
A woman once asked for my advice on what strategy to use when requesting a raise during her annual review with her boss. All the options she had considered dealt with the review session itself. She had not considered the preplanning and information gathering she needed to do to create a powerful negotiation. She had not taken into account such things as: documenting her accomplishments over the previous year; figuring out what her boss’s needs and goals were, and how she could help him achieve those goals; finding out what types of raises her boss had given in the past and in what amounts; nor developing a clear vision of her own goals for the negotiation. The fact is, the negotiation actually began the day this woman started working for the company–and will continue until her next employment opportunity. Most negotiations, like life, are a continuous process. How you spend the time before you meet with the other party is extremely important.
