Black Belt Negotiating: Become a Master Negotiator Using Powerful Lessons from the Martial Arts

3. Anticipate Your Opponent’s Wants and Needs

As we said, the striking points on your opponents are their needs. Like you, they will sacrifice some of their wants to protect their needs. It’s important, before negotiations start, to actively anticipate what the other party’s wants and needs will be because this will give you your negotiating range. Obviously, you will only really find out what they are when you’re well into the bargaining session, but sometimes you can gain insight into what they’re thinking by putting yourself in their shoes.

For example, let’s say you want to pay a set price to have your yard work done. You might find out, by asking, that the gardener has plenty of work on weekends and little during the week, so he would appreciate ...