Every great commercial real estate investor or entrepreneur must know how to negotiate- it is crucial to the business. You must know exactly what it is you want to accomplish before walking in, and know how to maneuver around demands.

While every commercial real estate investor has his or her own style of negotiations, there are two approaches that will win the deal in your favor.

With negotiations being such an important aspect of the commercial real estate investor's livelihood and success, it is highly suggested that no one else does the negotiations. The person making the deal should be the one negotiating. You may have your lawyer or accountant there for consultation or support, but always do negotiations yourself. It will be far more effective.

There are absolutely two things you must do when headed into a negotiations situation- regardless if you think negotiations are going to be simple or challenging. The first is to always be prepared through homework and research. The other is to take your time. These two points seem rather obvious and simple at first glance, don't you think? I wonder then WHY so many people refuse to do these two things before negotiating a commercial real estate deal, or any deal at all.

For example, would you go to purchase a car without knowing what it is that you want, what price you are willing to pay, and what the average purchase price was for the car that you wanted? I would hope not.

Coming prepared may require extra work on you and your team, but it is absolutely worth it when you want to make a deal happen. Understand what the other side wants and what they are going to do with the results. Did they have prior problems or have future goals? How does this deal pertain to those factors and what can you do to either help or hinder their operations?

Perhaps you can sweeten the deal with something they need or play hard ball by bringing up a topic that will force them to sway in your favor.

How would you handle their predicament any other way? You must know what you want and know their situation even better than they do. If they do not come as prepared as you, you will definitely have the upper hand. By understanding their situation you know how to maneuver around them and get what you really want- no matter what.

The second tip is to take your time. Many people go in and want to get the negotiations over and done with quickly. This is not to your advantage. You want to think of all avenues, have time to think and the other party thinks of any ramifications the deal might have. If you need to pull a factor in your favor, the longer you take and more time you spend negotiating, the more the other party realizes that you are going to get what you want, or no deal.

When you better understand the urgency, the true urgency of the other party (by coming prepared) you can better judge how to react to their demands. Always take your time, take it one point at a time and don't rush it. Top negotiators would say this is your best approach.

Make these negotiation skills part of every negotiation- commercial real estate or not. You will find these tools effective in all negotiations, not just commercial real estate.

Do you too want to be a highly successful commercial real estate investor and entrepreneur, then learn these negotiation skills and never go against them. Take your time and come prepared. You will be very happy you did and your bank account will too.