What happens when you receive a contract for a potential business deal and the person giving you the contract says the terms are non negotiable? There are many ways to handle this but before you even take a look at the contract you have to decide whether or not its worth it to open discussions. Even though someone says there is no negotiation, you still have the option to make an attempt to discuss the terms.

Remember, everything is negotiable when you “Think Like A Negotiator” even if it means the strategy you use is simply walking away. Once you decide to attempt to negotiate the terms, you need to first look at whether or not the terms are fair and reasonable.

What exactly does fair and reasonable mean? A Fair and Reasonable price can be defined as the price a prudent businessperson would pay for an item or service under competitive market conditions, given a reasonable knowledge of the marketplace. Fair implies a proper balance of conflicting interests. Reasonable means not extreme or excessive. So a fair and reasonable price is on that is balanced and somewhat moderate.

Fair and reasonable goes for terms and conditions as well as price. If the terms are extremely or much more favorable to the other side than to your side, then that would not be a fair and reasonable offer for you. For instance, if you were looking into a joint venture with someone for your business and that person expected you to do the majority of the work in the venture and they expected to get 50% of the business, that wouldn’t be fair and reasonable to you.

Negotiating win-win results means that both parties feel good about the outcome of the negotiation. You won’t get everything you want and same should go for the other side. In the end, if you both feel like the agreement is fair and reasonable it will be a double win.