A woman with brown curly hair in a ponytail looking at the words "Negotiation Purpose" on a white board

What makes the difference between a successful negotiation and one that falls flat? How can you set clear objectives that guide your decisions at the negotiating table?

According to Jim Camp’s book Start With No, establishing your negotiation purpose is a crucial first step toward achieving your goals. Camp reveals practical strategies for crafting objectives that not only serve your interests but also resonate with the other party.

Continue reading to learn how to develop a negotiation purpose that sets you up for success from the very beginning.

Your Negotiation Purpose

Camp writes that, to set yourself up for success, you must identify your negotiation purpose. A clear purpose provides you with direction, ensuring the decisions you make are focused and valuable. It also safeguards you from agreeing to a deal that you don’t actually want. He recommends you make it clear and concise, and that you write it down so you can reference it regularly.

When crafting your negotiation purpose, Camp suggests you take the following steps.

1. Frame your goal to show how it will benefit the other party. For example, when negotiating a job offer, don’t make it your purpose to “secure a higher-paying job that advances my career.” A more effective purpose would be to “help the company see how my skills and experiences match their organization’s objectives and the requirements of the open position.”

(Shortform note: In How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie also says that the only way to influence someone is to talk about what they want and not what you want. He explains with a metaphor about fishing: You don’t put your favorite dessert on a hook to catch fish. You attach what fish like—a worm. Thus, Carnegie recommends you challenge yourself to not mention anything about what you personally want. Instead, ask yourself, “What can the other person get out of this?”)

2. Focus on behavior, not results. The ultimate outcome of the negotiation is out of your control. So, instead of focusing your efforts on getting a specific outcome, concentrate on your actions and behaviors during the negotiation. Set process-oriented goals, such as inviting your counterpart to say “no” instead of result-oriented goals, such as getting a specific deal. Camp contends that if you focus on your behavior, the results you want will naturally follow.

(Shortform note: Focusing only on what you can control is a core tenet of Stoicism, which is a philosophy for living a good life by maximizing happiness and minimizing unhappiness. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine explains that when you focus on what you can’t control, you give up control of your happiness. He adds that in life, you have full control, partial control, or no control in any given situation. While you can put effort into things you have partial control over (such as negotiations), you should only set goals regarding things that are fully under your control. If you set result-oriented goals, you’ll cause yourself more anxiety that can hinder your ability to do your best work.)

How to Craft Your Negotiation Purpose: 2 Steps for Success

Elizabeth Whitworth

Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books—and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a blog and is writing a book about the beginning and the end of suffering.

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