Ask for it – How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want

This book is a wonderful gift for women in any walk of life. Women are hard working, yet wait to be rewarded, and many times end up disappointed, not getting what they rightly deserve. This book is set to open up new possibilities for women, to understand what they want, appreciate their self-worth and ask for what they deserve.

This book is full of real-life examples of hundreds of women in different professions, different stages of life who learn to negotiate for what they want. The stories are realistic and relatable. What I love about this book is it is full of practical tips on how to prepare for negotiation and how to manage the process.

The book is structured in four phases:

•  Everything is Negotiable:

We read stories of women who live with problems, put up with minor irritations because they don’t realise that they can ask for change. When they finally decide to ask, they get it almost immediately, because it is such a legitimate request, making them wonder why they didn’t ask earlier. From simple things like asking for a bathrobe in a hotel, a special parking slot in office, a change in the title at work that reflects contribution, to bigger benefits like promotion and even permission to start her own office in her locality, we see how women get what they want just be deciding to ask for it.

• Lay the groundwork

In this phase we learn the negotiation concepts – BATNA – the best alternative to a negotiated agreement, How to improve our BATNA, understand the BATNA of the other party, working on collaborative negotiation, understanding interests of both parties, target price, reserve price, trade-offs, bargaining power etc.

• Get ready – Negotiation Gym

This phase gives us six steps to practice and hone our negotiation skills. “You don’t decide and run the marathon the next day. You need to build your strength and muscles and work out regularly to go for the big run.” says the author. Similarly, you cannot read the concepts and go to your boss the next day to ask for a promotion.

The authors give us six exercises or gym practices to hone our negotiation muscles to prepare ourselves for big negotiations. This unit is an amazing tool for women to learn and practice negotiation.

• Put it all together

This phase shows us how to get our act together, negotiate and close the deal. Practical inputs like the timing of the interaction, choosing a place, understanding our own emotions, role plays and preparations to practice before the performance, all the techniques and steps are detailed here and enriched with examples.

• Negotiation worksheet

This is the bonus that is invaluable for its practical value. The negotiation worksheet contains a series of questions and checklists that help us list out all the factors that affect the negotiation process and prepare ourselves for success.

Whether you are a working woman, self-employed professional, homemaker, or entrepreneur, this is an invaluable companion that will help you get what you want and rightly deserve.

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