Business professionals negotiate every day to achieve their desired outcomes. Effective negotiation skills are important for building business acumen. There are numerous examples of negotiations in which you may have participated. Take note of a few that may be familiar to you.
-While setting merchandising materials for the store, did you negotiate for floor, wall, or shelf space?
-Were you involved in vendor negotiations for the best dates to run in-store promotions of their products?
-Did you negotiate with customers to find the best possible resolution to a problem?
-Did you negotiate to get more of the “best-selling” products into your store’s inventory?
-Did you negotiate with your supervisor to switch weekends off?
1. Review course content and conduct outside research on the topic of effective negotiation.
2. Use the results of your research to respond to the following questions:
-Describe which skills are most effective for business professionals to use in negotiations.
-Discuss the value of coming to a negotiation prepared (e.g. what is your desired outcome, what are you willing to compromise, etc.).
-Consider the questions above regarding a recent negotiation in which you were involved.
Looking back, did you use the skills you now know are most effective? Were you prepared? Did you achieve your desired outcome?
*I work for Walmart
