You don do di work. You sabi roughly wetin di role dey pay, you sabi wetin you ship dis year, and you get one figure for mind wey sit small above di one wey you for quietly accept. Dat na most of di job don finish, and na di part wey most people never even reach. Wetin remain go take like four seconds. Somebody ask wetin you dey look for, you talk one number, and then gap enter di conversation. Plenty of di outcome dey live inside dat gap.
Dis one na skill, no be personality, wey na good news, because you fit train skill and you no fit really train personality. Quiet people dey often superb for dis thing. Dem don practice talking one clean sentence and then no talk di next one.
Wetin I go actually talk when dem ask wetin I dey look for?
Talk one complete sentence with di figure inside, then stop. "I dey look for one hundred and ten thousand" na di whole line, and most of wetin people dey add after am dey cost dem money.
Three habits dey leak value inside dat sentence, and you fit fix di three dis week. Di first na di range. If you talk ninety-five to one hundred and five, you don offer one hundred and five and dem don hear ninety-five, so range na lower number wey wear costume. Di second na di preamble: "I know say budget tight, and obviously I dey flexible, but I sort of dey hope for." By di time di figure land, dem don already mark am down three times, and na di person wey want am marked down do di marking. Di third na di trailing "but". Whatever follow "but" na concession wey nobody ask you for.
So use di plain grammar of fact. No be request, no be hope, na number. Research on first offers dey consistent about why dis matter: across experiments, whichever side put figure on table first usually finish better off, and dat first figure strongly predict where di deal go land.
How long I suppose keep quiet after I talk my number?
Four seconds na good working minimum, and if you fit see say di other person dey think, keep waiting. Di quiet no be rejection and e no be standoff. Silence no be power move, na arithmetic wey dey happen.
Most of us no fit feel di difference between two seconds and eight, wey be why counting dey help. Count four slow beats. If nothing don happen, count four more. Wetin you dey protect yourself from na di reflex to rescue di moment, because di person wey fill silence almost always dey fill am with concession, and na almost always di person wey talk last.
Researchers for MIT Sloan analyse recorded negotiations and find say silent pauses of at least three seconds dey usually land just before breakthroughs, and, more useful, say di silence dey make both sides better off instead of just scaring one of dem. Quiet dey interrupt di assumption say one person gain must be di other person loss. Dat na di honest case for di pause, and e strong pass di tactic version, because you fit use am on somebody wey you go still dey work with come Monday.
Wetin if dem push back before I finish?
Make dem finish di sentence, then talk your figure again for exactly di same voice wey you use di first time. Same volume, same pace, no new words.
Repetition dey do something wey fresh argument no fit do. Number wey you talk once, people fit test am. Number wey you talk twice, calmly, without vex and without fresh justification staple to am, dey read as settled, and people no dey push settled things. If you change your voice, you don tell dem say di number move, even though di digits no move.
If dem ask why, give one reason wey ground for di work, then stop again. "Na where di market sit for dis scope" don do. No stack three reasons. Stack dey sound like person wey dey talk demself into am, and di weakest reason inside di pile na di one wey dem go argue with.
How I go stop myself from talking my own number down?
Write di sentence out before you enter and keep am where you fit see am. Reading line wey you don already decide easy far pass composing one while your heart dey beat fast.
Then give your hand and your mouth work. Keep notebook open and start to write di second wey you finish talking, because writing na legitimate reason to keep quiet and e dey look like competence instead of staring contest. For call, mute na your padi for exactly four seconds.
Watch di two words wey dey undo di work: "but" and "just". "But I dey flexible" dey hand back everything wey you bin dey hold. "I was just wondering" dey turn ask into accident. Comot di two for paper, where dem cheap, instead of comot dem for your mouth, where dem no cheap.
Which three numbers I suppose decide before I enter?
Three: di opening ask wey you go talk out loud, di target wey you go sign today, and di walk-away wey you go refuse with warm heart. Decide all three on quiet afternoon, for writing, and never invent one live.
Di opening ask dey sit above di target on purpose, because di number wey dem talk first dey set di ceiling and everything after am dey travel one direction. Di target na di honest one, di figure wey go make you say yes without thinking twice. Di walk-away dey protect di other two, because number wey you don already decide to refuse easy far pass to refuse inside room.
People dey fold for one reason pass any other. Dem never decide before di time, so dem end up dey do arithmetic and emotional management at di same time, in front of audience, on di clock. Three numbers on one piece of paper dey remove half of dat load. Print dem, put di page face down beside di laptop, and turn am over if you need am.
Di four seconds na training, no be something wey dem born you with
Body wey dey stay still under pressure na something you build, and di building dey happen somewhere other than di meeting. Anybody wey don hold heavy set for one rep longer pass wetin comfortable don already practice staying composed while dia heart dey race, wey na exactly wetin dose four seconds dey ask from you. Dat one no be detour into wellness. Na why di person wey train on Tuesday get steadier voice on Wednesday.
E good make you remember how ordinary and how common dis conversation be. Pew Research Center find say among people wey quit job for 2021 and move into new one, 56% dey earn more afterwards. Money dey move when people ask, and di asking na normal part of working life, no be act of bravery.
KEEP CALM founder, Kaʻohele Carlos, na Chief Design Officer wey hustle im whole career and still find ways to stay calm through am. Di two run side by side di whole time, wey na di only reason any of dis worth passing on: di four seconds no be technique for wanting less. Na technique for asking for more and still dey inside di room, and inside di industry, twenty years from now.
Ask for di number wey you really want. Talk am as one sentence. Then let four seconds pass, and let dem talk first.