Do You Fear Asking for What You Want?

Most likely you have no problem asking for another cup of coffee or for a friend to go to a show with you. But for some reason people freeze up upon even contemplating the idea of having to negotiate, and most will either walk away or take a deal that they know isn’t fair.

Yes or No


The point to remember is, that the other party always has the opportunity to either, say, “yes” or “no” and it’s anybody’s guess what the reply may actually be. Yes or no provides you with a 50% chance of getting what you desire. But, just as with a sale, when you add a couple of added options to be selected, the odds in your favor increase.

This week several people told me that it was incomprehensible to ask a seller to discount the sale price of a condominium due to walls not being properly repaired. In fact, the real estate agent was completely against the asking of this request. He said, “That’s just isn’t done here”. In conversation, my reply was that the owners did a cheap quick fix to sell the property, but anyone can see it needs to be redone. Upon sharing the dilemma, with others, everyone advised the purchase would be lost.

Weight Pros and Cons


But when real estate is purchased there are always pros and cons. If this one fell through there would be others available. Once again, I advised the real estate agent that the sellers can always say “no”. The end result was they actually said “yes” to crediting the requested amount, making the buyers very happy.

Fast-forward to job offers, are you satisfied with the salary, vacation time and/or benefits? Most likely something will be missing, and it’s your duty to ask. By the time the process moves so far forward, the last thing the hiring company wants to do is to go through the process all over again.

Focus on Essentials


Comparing this experience to finalizing sales, as long as you pay keen attention to the details requested of you, and you explained the improvement the business will see by employing your services, the buyer will be far more likely to also say “Yes!”

The key to negotiation is to not be emotionally attached. It can be stressful in the waiting stage, but most often when the process is done in a friendly manner and your perspective is presented clearly, most often you will succeed.