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Negotiation Skills Self Assessment Essay

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Negotiation Skills
Self Assessment
By
John Doe

Executive Summary

My time in the negotiation skills workshop was very humbling. Before the workshop began my negotiation ability was one of the business skills I knew needed the most improvement. When going into negotiations at work, prior to the course, the only thing I knew was that I wanted a lower price then I was given. What actually surprised me most what that I did actually have some effective negotiating strategies but I was correct in my belief that I had a lot to learn. When you have a goal but lack a game plan on how to achieve it that makes negotiating very difficult and something that I approached with much reservation at work.
As you will see from my report I …show more content…

The answer to what I want however was always limited to a particular dollar value. I would enter negotiations with either a target price given to me by a superior or with a somewhat arbitrary price reduction figure such as achieving a 10% or 20% lower price from the quoted price. While I list this as a strength, I am now aware that narrowing my focus in a negotiation to focusing purely on price also caused me to have a purely distributive approach to ‘dividing the pie.’ I failed to see other possibilities such as expanding the pie and adding value to both my company and potential suppliers. This mindset also means that my ability to create value for both parties in a deal was severely limited.
While in the process of acquiring a product or service I always try and ensure that I have at least two alternative sources for services and products that my company frequently uses. In the case of a new product or service I always tried to ensure that I have three independent quotes. Although I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to label this as a BATNA(best alternative to a negotiated agreement) I believe it did allow me to have an alternative in most cases. I am aware that this is an extremely limited view of term BATNA and I certainly don’t mean to suggest that this is a sufficient approach to this strategy, it is never the less an alternative.
I have never found it very difficult to determine who the real parties are in a negotiation. Most negotiations I have

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