How to Handle Aggression in Business Negotiations

Business people frequently must deal with aggressive negotiators who aim to win their negotiations.

Preparation is key when facing tough negotiations, including creating effective negotiation strategies and practicing them. Furthermore, professional negotiators may help spot aggressive tactics and help prevent you from falling into their trap.

Identify the trigger

Aggressive tactics are often employed by people who lack any interest in creating a win-win solution; rather, their goal may be securing an agreement that meets their individual requirements. When this occurs, it’s essential that you be prepared for the worst-case scenario and try to understand why such behavior exists among your counterpart.

If they begin interrogating you aggressively about details about your business, they could be trying to provoke an emotional response from you. They may be doing this out of vanity or because something you said earlier in the negotiation was harmful or upsetting them; in these instances it’s best to remain calm and remind them that none of this has anything to do with you and that this issue doesn’t pertain to you at all.

However, this type of aggressive behavior could also be an indication that they’re feeling immense pressure from their stakeholders to deliver certain results during negotiation. When this is the case, using aggressive language as a tactic helps regain control over the discussion and wrest some power back from you.

If someone is acting aggressively towards you, try asking them to repeat themselves or using another strategy that gives you time to consider their argument before responding in kind. Doing this will allow you to avoid the temptation to react directly.

Avoid escalation

Be wary of using aggressive tactics as they don’t always bring long-term success; even if they do provide short-term gains, these could damage your reputation and hinder future opportunities for business expansion.

Be wary of your counterpart’s strategies and recognize when they are acting aggressively, in order to prevent further escalation of negotiations and retain control. Aggressive negotiators usually want you to react and are hoping you get angry or frustrated so they can increase their own level of aggression, which escalates negotiations further.

If your counterpart appears to be trying to provoke an emotional response, gently request they stop. Inform them that you require time to consider their proposal, and that nothing is going ahead until after review has taken place. When complex calculations or emotions become an issue during negotiations, taking a break may also help.

One way to prevent the other party from becoming more hostile is to slowly present difficult information or news to them in small portions. This technique usually results in concessions from their side as they seek a way out of an uncomfortable situation – for example if trying to reach an agreement on price try asking for prices for extreme cases rather than your original requirements.

Avoid blaming

Aggression in business negotiations is often employed as a strategy by negotiators who cannot reach an amicable solution with one party, in an attempt to exploit your weaknesses through confrontational tactics. But there are steps you can take to protect yourself against this behavior and remain the victor.

As an example, do not be intimidated to communicate to your opponent if their negotiating skills are being utilized improperly. Recognizing the source of any difficulties enables you to address them more appropriately by suggesting alternative negotiation processes for resolving them.

Be mindful to listen carefully and avoid making assumptions about their intentions; your counterpart could be trying to bait you by suggesting they’re doing something harmful or threatening, which could spark conflict.

Be careful not to fall into a trap that they set for you. They might claim there are external reasons preventing them from accepting your offer; or play “chicken”, by proposing extreme measures and hoping you will back out so they can extract more value in exchange. Lastly, they could use “bogeyman” strategies such as pretending an issue is of great significance when in actuality it doesn’t.

Walk away

If your position is strong enough and you feel as though you are being cornered, it might be time to walk away from negotiations altogether. While this decision can be hard, if it seems the deal cannot be won on your terms it might be wiser to stop wasting valuable time by continuing to fight it.

At times, those sitting across from you may resort to hard bargaining tactics such as an all-or-nothing offer or non-reciprocated counter offer in order to demonstrate that they possess power and are willing to be aggressive. Although this type of hard negotiation tactic may be difficult to counteract successfully, you can prepare and defend against it by emphasizing that only reciprocated offers will be accepted from both sides.

Aggressive negotiators come with only one goal in mind – winning. Like gamblers, these individuals do not hesitate to risk their reputation or relationships in order to gain an edge and ultimately secure an advantage for themselves. Unfortunately, business cannot allow such forceful behaviour to have such an effect.

Keep the big picture in mind to determine your walk away point and make tough calls when necessary. Placing customer needs and organisation goals first will enable you to negotiate with integrity when faced with aggressive opponents; by remaining detached emotionally during these negotiations, you can find solutions which benefit all parties involved.