Do you accept the first offer?

Are you willing to accept NO for an answer?

Are you willing to pay more than the value of something?

This may depend on how much you want or need something.

Everything can be negotiated.

Even when it says in black and white that no terms can be changed or altered.

How? Time to use your words. Write down the numbers in question.

What does a fair split of profits look like between two people? It is not necessarily 50/50. It depends on efforts and value brought to the negotiation table by each party.

Practicing it is how to get better at negotiation. Whether you are negotiating the price of a house, a car, your compensation package at work, a cup of coffee or anything whatever you don’t accept at face value regardless of [suggested] listed price. It can simply be permission to go somewhere and not accepting NO for an answer. Casey Neistat put best with “do what you can’t”

The first rule of negotiation is that everything is negotiable. Anything. Even something that is not for sale.

If someone really wants to sell something, they might be willing to negotiate. Or they might have to every time. If they are not willing to negotiate, they need to be persuaded. Convince them to accept your terms. Understand what value this has to you and what value it has to them. This could take time.

Be ready to walk away from any deal if you don’t like most of the terms. Walking away is sometimes the right move to getting a better deal. Even if your own future depends on it. You will not likely die from it, and you can learn something every time if you pay attention to what is happening before, during and after the negotiation.

Compromise? It is an exercise in Give and Take. And understanding who are the takers, givers and matchers.

Understand their motivators and what they really need or just want. It’s not just about money either.

What are the needs, wants and nice-to-haves in priority order?

What do they need and what do you need? Negotiate all the wants and nice-to-haves as pawns.

There is room for negotiation even after an offer because the first offer is just that… a first offer.

Learn to negotiate to get a better deal regardless of which side of the table you are on, what is at stake and what is on the table.

Here are a few books that can help in learning more about negotiation: