Lessons learned from a salary negotiation

Lessons learned from a salary negotiation

Lai Yonghao (http://laiyonghao.com)

Note: This is an article written at the end of 2008.

On April 9, (post-paid note), I participated in a salary negotiation and got into the other party's flying knife. I was very embarrassed. Finally, I had to stick to the decision, so that the whole city would not be exhausted. This "lesson" is recorded in the close-up. One is to watch yourself, and the other is to help others.

Cause

Because the companies that used to stay in the past were very large, they were also very ambitious in South China. There were a lot of talents, and naturally many people started their own businesses. My former company was also such an online game R & D vendor founded by a former colleague. Later, I left because of many reasons. The reason for leaving is not relevant to this article, so we will not detail it in detail. After leaving, the former boss recommended me to join another online game R & D Company. This is a company with stable investment and the former boss is the technical director here, in addition, I had a number of former colleagues who were familiar with me there, so I promised to contact them further.

Negotiation

Because the technical director knows me well (I have been working together for a long time), there is no written examination, technical interview or other processes. After the two parties decided to make further contact, they had a meal with Boss, Technical Director, and product director. After dinner, they immediately went to the company and entered the salary negotiation stage. When talking about salary, I talked with boss separately. Two people stayed in the meeting room. Boss was a former colleague in a big company. He was born from the market, but I had no direct intersection with him and was not particularly prepared, so I don't know much about him. He asked me about my previous salary. based on the idea that "everyone is so familiar with me", he told me the real salary he had received. He expressed his suspicion and said that his previous income from "Spying" me was about two less than what I said. Then I reported a number of "slashes" that dumped me. He was willing to give me a trial salary equivalent to 55% of my previous salary! This number was unexpectedly unexpected. I became skeptical, worried, and depressed. In the subsequent negotiations, I lost my judgment and he was completely proactive, later, he made some so-called concessions on welfare and dividends, and I almost agreed to the other party's conditions. Fortunately, despite being affected by the "ultra-low-price" missile bombing of the other party, I insisted on my own beliefs and positions. At the same time, to maintain my friendship with my former boss, I decided to release a free-of-war card for future discussion, finally, the entire army was not covered.

Theoretical Knowledge

Boss is actually a very common negotiation technique -- bitter and sweet. It is to first use some harsh conditions to suppress the psychology of the other party, so that the other party loses confidence and judgment, and generates a hopeless mentality of doubt. Afterwards, I made some concessions slowly, making the other Party feel "the situation has been gradually reversed" during the negotiation, and the result is happy to sign the contract, so as to achieve more useful skills.

This technique is so effective that there are small ways of life such as asking for money and cutting prices. The reason why it can play a role is that people's psychology is dominated by first-in-first-out information, people put forward a lot of harsh conditions once they get in touch, just like giving a bitter signal to the other party, and then giving in or giving in a discount. Sometimes, although it is just a little bit, it may also make people feel that they have made a lot of money, so they are happy to make a great concession on the other side's requirements.

My mistakes

1) I do not have a deep understanding of salary negotiation, and I have not made any targeted preparations. As a result, the other party is instantly defeated when the other party opens an ultra-low price;

2) The information collected earlier was incorrect. I thought that the salary was determined by the technical director, and I thought that the technical director was my boss and old colleague, it does not give an unreasonable price;

3) on the basis of the previous article, I did not make any preparations for the subject of "talking directly with boss about salary". For example, the other party is engaged in the market and has rich experience in negotiation, it may be impossible to make a negotiation. The other party did a lot of homework for me. during the negotiation, he knew that he had explored my previous salary, I have asked my colleagues about my comments, my strengths and weaknesses, and even my personality;

4) it was so refreshing that I showed "strong willingness to join this team" during my dinner.

His mistakes

Obviously, boss has rich experience in negotiation, and the negotiation strength is indeed better than that of my technical programmer. But he did not make no mistakes, or he should have won me.

1) I was underestimated. He has done a lot of homework before, but still lacks at least two aspects. One is my knowledge and the other is my world view. The lack of information in these two aspects has led him to regard me as a "typical" technician, just a little unique personality;

2) too late. When the price he offered was only 55% of my previous salary, I thought it was an insult to me. There is no limit to the sea, but it must be measured in depth. When it is far from practice, it not only makes me feel sincere, but even has reached the level of humiliation;

3) Fail to pursue the attack. Later, when he gave me some progress in terms of dividends and welfare, I almost collapsed. If he made another effort or had prepared a contract, I may have signed it. But in the end, my procrastination tactics took effect. When I came out, the north wind blew up and my mind calmed down, and I had completely realized that I had lost in the negotiation, naturally, you will choose the best solution for you-reject or negotiate again.

4) incorrect estimation of the "trend", believing that you are the dominant party, and misuse the advantage negotiation skills. In fact, both sides have a lot of options at hand, and it should be an average trend.

Lessons learned

1) Don't be too optimistic about the situation. The opposite side of the negotiating table is all enemies. The reason why we sit at both ends of a table is that we have a hostile stance, I just want to negotiate with each other for the greatest benefit;

2) fully prepare the subject, object, and topic of the negotiation, and obtain the information of the other party as much as possible, such as who may attend and the experiences and habits of attendees;

3) be familiar with negotiation skills, understand the applicability of these skills, and ensure that they are not abused. Also, be familiar with the cracking techniques of these skills, ensure that the other party can promptly detect and crack the "Flying knife;

4) to enhance your competitiveness, the strong will be the weak mentality when they encounter a stronger one; and strive to turn themselves into the subject of negotiation.

Extended topic

1) The best way to give full play to the First bitter sweet skill is to "Sing a pair of Springs", that is, a person puts forward harsh conditions to "dress up with red faces" at the beginning and insists on not making concessions; then, a person will show his face as a zombie and make some concessions, so that the remaining requirements and conditions are exactly what they want. In this salary negotiation, I met a "maybe" Pro edition, but I believe that I am "friend of friendship" with another role because of my subjective willingness ", therefore, I reject this conclusion.

2) First bitter, then sweet is a dominant negotiation technique, that is, the party who throws the "Flying knife" should have absolute initiative. For example, dairy manufacturers are currently in a "three-way" situation, and there may be a large shortage of funds, and banks and investment institutions are not helping. You have a large amount of money in your hand, I also think that the dairy market will eventually become warm, so I plan to invest in the dairy industry, so I can use this offer during the purchase negotiation, maybe I can buy a large number of shares at Ultra-low prices. However, back to my case, this online game vendor has not had such a big advantage. After all, I have not been unable to find a job, or have been overwhelmed by other companies for many times, job seekers who have lost confidence. I have several options in my hand, so to some extent, I am on average with them.

3) First bitter, then sweet. In fact, it is very simple. First, we need to realize that negotiation is a learning process, learn this knowledge with an open mind, and be able to understand each other's skills. Second, we need to make full preparations before the negotiation, understand the real needs of the other party and identify which conditions are false conditions for breaking down confidence. 3. Based on the previous two points, using a tit-for-tat method, the other party can directly touch the other party's nose, such as quitting or rejecting negotiations, so that the other party may feel self-defeating and frustrated, or even asking him to ask you in turn; fourth, in the spirit of mutual benefit and cooperation, we firmly hold our own positions and stick to our own conditions, and the other party will gradually make concessions.

4) December 12 is the anniversary of the double 12 event (the Xi 'an Incident). The final result of the double 12 incident is the second peaceful solution through the cooperation between the two countries and the Communist Party of China. The process is ups and downs, but it can be learned as an excellent negotiation case. I would like to remind you that the date of this negotiation with me is so coincidental.