The Negotiator will be a series of columns with the intention of helping poolies to become great negotiators when they do deals in their pools. Here is the first instalment:

The Negotiator

Negotiating a deal in a keeper league is always exciting. Some even think of it as a full contact sport - a chance to show your abilities as a poolie. But the guys you are dealing with also have an agenda. Its time to sharpen those skills and become the best negotiator you can be. Try to get an upper-hand and improve your team. If you have been keeping your team in the money for a while then it proves you know the basics of negotiating. But can you get better? Of course you can.

Are you trying to “win” the deal or are you trying to make the other guy “lose”. Well obviously one goes along with the other, the challenge here is to make the other guy feel good about the deal too. This fosters a good relationship with your competitors and paves the way for more favorable deals in the future. It also goes a long way in building a reputation around the league as being a fair competitor and a reasonable person to deal with.

Have your reasoning ready when defending your deals too. If others in your league comment that you “totally robbed” the other guy, then you should be there to defend the other guy for making the deal. Suggest that the needs of both parties were met. Yeah, it feels great to get the upper-hand in the deal but the next time you want to do a deal with your competitor, he will remember the deal in which he was “totally robbed”, making negotiations a little more difficult.

Trust and integrity are keys to building a solid relationship with all the teams in your pool. Make deals that are perceived to be beneficial to both and be ready to defend the deal for both sides.


Next week: Being prepared

Devil's Advocate / Additional Insight :

The placement of your team does not necessarily show whether you know the basics of negotiating. If I'm in a rebuild, my team will be in the bottom tier so my needs are completely different than those up top. Meaning the end result of my negotiations will differ as I try to complement my own needs to my dance partner's needs. It's not necessarily a skill as much as a means to reach different goals.

Winning a deal doesn't make you a bad guy (or give you a bad rep) and losing a deal doesn't get you laughed at - it just puts the spotlight on you for a little while. There's a difference between quietly winning a string of 6 deals and having the end result of improving your team in many different areas than completely ripping off the competition.

If you lose a deal - no biggie. Learn from the comments received because if the deal is very lopsided, you'll definitely get some slack. A good negotiator will understand that and take note of it. Constantly losing deals should be an indicator to step back and assess the Rules, Categories and Values of your league.

A player is always trying to improve their team. Value is perceived by GMs in many different ways with the primary factor being personal biases. A strong negotiator can feed off those biases and needs by seeking particular insights and past trends.

If you're a good negotiator, you won't have troubles finding trade partners. Sometimes you're in a rut and can't seem to land a trade, wait it out and don't get desperate, your time will eventually come and when it does it will roll.

GMG

__________________
Gates Imbeau
Assistant Manager - DobberSports.com
Writer - Fantrax.com
Regular Guest - The York Report via NextSportStar.com
Email: gates@dobbersports.com
Twitter: @GM_Gates

Yes. Win/lose is subjective.

I just realized I wrote asses instead of assess - terrible typo!

Bad Typo = Not a good negotiator

__________________
Gates Imbeau
Assistant Manager - DobberSports.com
Writer - Fantrax.com
Regular Guest - The York Report via NextSportStar.com
Email: gates@dobbersports.com
Twitter: @GM_Gates