Do not let someone lay a guilt trip on you.

Negotiation tips for startups & individuals

A lot of people fail negotiation because they are too kind, and not able to separate facts from feelings. I don’t say that as a bad thing. I’ll explain why it is in fact, better. Let’s continue with the tip for now:

When you sell your company services/ products (or your labour, as an employee), if somebody tells you

“The inflation has taken a toll on my business, it’s tough, any chance you could lower the price.”

Don’t take it personally, but don’t reject what they said completely, most people said so because they think it’s true.

Don’t immediately reply with ‘I understand…’ it will be difficult to continue holding your stance from there because subconsciously we don’t want to be seen as unreasonable people.

What you could do is tell them you know that happens, acknowledge the emotions and hardship that the other party is going through, but tell them why you price the way you price it:

It could be maybe the whole industry is doing so because that’s the way to ensure quality;

It could be that’s the unit economy that makes sense for your company and to pay your employees fairly, or another way that you determined the pricing is a fair offer.

Be vulnerable, and reasonable, leave the offer at the table, and accept the fact that whether or not that person accepts it has nothing to do with you personally (which is why a lot of people mention doing business with friends is tough because the negotiations tend to be personal).

There will be edge cases where the tip above doesn’t work, but it should work most of the time.

People often simplified it as

“State your value, hold your stance”.

But understanding yourself and the negotiation process emotionally helps you master this overly simplified technique better.

Being kind and having empathy is being human, and it’s a great strength that people often overlook because they don’t know how to utilize it, and many people abuse the attributes.

Learning how not to let people abuse your kindness is important, it doesn’t take away or discount your value of ‘being utmost sincere and kind’. If ‘making the world better’ ultimately damages your achievement, you will have a hard time accepting it, and maybe that’s not being utmost sincere and kind if you secretly hated a part of it.

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