Negotiate With ConfidenceEstablishing your goals in advance keeps you in control.

At the beginning of negotiations, establish (in your mind) thelowest acceptable offer you'll take. That way, you have a sensefor how far you can go before you start cutting into profitmargins, production capacity or whatever benchmark you'reusing. As the negotiations proceed, you know where you are at alltimes, and that sense of security can give you greaterconfidence.

Establishing the lowest acceptable alternative in advance doessomething else: It keeps you in a win-win frame of mind because youdon't have to worry about losing. As long as you know the pointat which you will walk away (and stick to it), you can't loseanything.

Excerpted fromCreative Selling: Boost your B2B sales