I really have a horrifying workload this week and I am planning to take some days off from blogging. Well even It only takes 15-20 minutes for a post, sometime I feel like I have enough with keyboards and letters.
As I have planned that, somehow I bumped to @leogrowth Inleo December Prompt thread and I saw the theme for today was The Art of Negotiation. It's a depth topic and we could end up making 2000-3000 words of article for just a peek about negotiation. I should avoid this topic, but I choose not to... Why?
Because less than an hour before I stumbled upon that inleo December Prompt, which you can see it on this post footer, I just had a conversation with one of my employers. EmployerSSSSS, yes I work to several people and one of them are formal jobs eight to five. I am working more than 100 hours a week, and it's not some exaggeration.
So this guy offered me more works and he would pay me for about $200 a month. That's cheap actually, for the same job with other agency, I could ask for $450 a month. He offered the job to me for less than what a normal person should get.
So this is where the negotiation should start right... I have several popular alternative that most people would come up with
- Slammed The table, walked out from the negotiation by cutting call. We should keep our dignity, right? Don’t undervalue yourself!
- Tell him directly, it's $450 or not. Take it or leave it dude!!! then see how he will respond.
- Ask him more, put your price tag at $600. He comes to me first, right? I have higher bargain position than him, I control the price here!
I think there are other option but I believe those three are the most likely a respond that I would go. and I said this to him as my answer....
first sentence:
so, listen here...
second sentence :
I don't care how much you offer me, whether it is $200, $100, $300, it's up to you to decide
third sentence :
As long I can do it and I love to do it, I will do it and pay me with any number you think I deserver that number
I know many will say this to me
I am a bad negotiator right? You may think that I should not make a post about negotiation, but I should read more posts about it. That's not wrong at all, however I make this post not about doing negotiation in best practice, or the art of negotiation... But it's more like the fundamental things that some people often forget.
It's about your goal, why the negotiation exist in the first place....
ITS ALL ABOUT GOALS
In any negotiation, most people will think about how they get the biggest chunk they can get.
If you are a sales man, you want to get the biggest sale and the biggest margin. If you are a procurement, you just want to get the cheapest goods. Sometime these two side collides because one side one to set higher price, the other lower price
and If you are a job applicant, you want to get the highest salary, right? It's all about how much you could gain there. Does your employer or HR manager think the same? of course they will take the opposite road, getting cheaper staff is their goal... Their KPI is there, for the sake of end of year bonuses or some pay rise.
So to win this battle, you need to know well what's the goal of the other side of the table too
That employer already knew I worked for three companies, and I worked with him for a project too. So I am already juggling at four jobs. He has known well that I spend more than 100 hours a week, so What The F he is thinking when he calls me asking to join his new team for the new project..
So my answer there is actually an ice breaking only. I need him to spill the deal before I can negotiate more. on my side, I already work more than 100 hours a week, can I really take another job in? definitely not!! If I take the job, I must abandon the other, right? which one should I leave for this new one? for your reference, the highest one pays me around $1000 a month, and I am not crazy enough to leave that one.
so I tell him this:
Look, I can only spend 4-10 hours more in a week, and those will be irregular. So there will be days I am really unreachable and I will be 0 hour work for that week, or maybe weeks, but there will be days I am available, and I could do that everyday for some hours.
so that's my first proposal which conveys my need. I was trying to shift the conversation from how much money to the needs.
In the end, we have a deal. My employer accept my needs, and I accept his offers. It is not a total win for both of us, but each of us get our goal
I get:
- more money
- avoid ridiculous extra working hours
my employer gets:
- a person who can work with NDA
- Someone clumsy, can't finish his work on time, a sloth in giving result, however that person never lie to him LoL
What happen if earlir I asked for more, let say $500 a month? the result could be:
- He rejects it, I don't have extra income
- He accepts it, he demands more from me, I can't catch up and we will have some feuds and most likely we won't work together anymore
So my main message here is that when you somehow realize you are in negotiation, it's ok if automatically you ask for more of you can gain... but it is better... if you step back a little, try to figure out what's your goal, what's the other party goal, and try to connect them together.
Most of the time we won't be able to connect those all, maybe only 1-2 things that can be bridged. But its more than ok if you see that way, rather than seeing only how much you will get or gain from that negotiation.
For me this last negotiation is a win for me. Knowing my limitation, and people still coming to me offering some jobs, it means I have negotiated the deal properly and It's not all about the numbers you gain on the paper.
Ok that's my quick blabbering today... thank you for lending your eyes and ears to me
Thank you for stopping by and reading my post here. This post is part of Inleo December 2024 Prompts, a project organized by @leogrowth to help hivers overcome their writer's block and of course to engage some communities on Hive.
How to follow this club or program is very simple. Just pick a day or what topic today based on the calendar above, then write your own article about it. Be original, don't steal other people writings, don't use AI, and have fun with your writings!!
Anyway Feel free to leave any comment below.
credit:
- Canva : free online image editor
- Thepeakstudio : wonderful hive divider
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