Today I went with a friend to negotiate an arms deal. Let me clarify that that isn’t as bad as it sounds. We weren’t buying machine guns or explosives, just considering a bunch of old rifles. I had seen them before, and knew which one I wanted to buy. My friend examined the guns and found one he liked. When we began to talk with the seller, I was reminded of things I had learned in communications class.
Most communication is done in an informal setting. The buyer, the seller and I were all college students, and none of us were representing a business. Nevertheless, many rules of communication apply, no matter what the setting is.
The seller had a price that he wanted us to pay, and we had a price that we wanted to pay. We then had to use our respective communication skills to arrive at a price that satisfied everyone. Negotiation skills are a valuable thing to learn in communications. They’re useful in many situations, from haggling on a price, to bargaining on international agreements.
What is negotiation, though? I’ve think that negotiating is really about persuasion. For instance, I had to try to convince the seller to accept a price lower than he originally wanted me to pay.
I got a fair price and skills from communications class helped me do it.
-Mason Moyer
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