Summary: Your outlook on the negotiation will affect the outcome.

This is an important tactic to learn because when you have A Positive Vision of the outcome of a negotiation, you will most likely guide its course. If your counterpart does not have a vision, as well as a plan to achieve that vision, he or she will probably be limited to reacting to your vision.

Example
A contractor is in a dispute with a corporation over the building of its new office, and a meeting is set to discuss cost overruns. The contractor prepares for two weeks and goes into the meeting with a well-orchestrated presentation that is aimed at ending the dispute with a win-win outcome for both counterparts. He visualizes the corporation accepting his proposal. At the meeting, he does a great job of demonstrating how the dispute can be resolved equitably.

Representatives of the corporation enter the negotiation with their primary focus on minimizing their losses in cost overruns. Without their own clear vision of a win-win outcome, they find themselves influenced by the contractor’s optimism and commitment to a solution that is favorable for everyone. They accept the contractor’s proposal, and both sides come out feeling like winners.

Have you used or encountered this tactic in your negotiations? If so, how’d it go?