According to CareerWomen.com, the leading source of women’s career information online, women find that their most useful negotiation tips come from other women. We can all agree that successful negotiating requires preparation. But, just what does preparation mean?

Of course, you should be prepared with a strong understanding of your needs and motivations. But, you need to know much more about the other side so you can plan your personal approach. How you look for your meeting can affect the outcome. My advice is to know as much as you can about whom you will be negotiating with. Do your research about each individual who will be present, gather together relevant information about them, ask about them from a mentor or colleague.

Every industry has its own nuances and styles. You need to figure out who you need to “be” in order to have the most successful outcome with your negotiation. How you look for your negations has an effect on your outcome. Just as you prepare all of your facts and figures for your conversation, you must also prepare your look to get the best possible opening reviews. You want the other party to accept you and hear you right from the moment they see you. Your appearance is the first impression they will have of you. You want them to “buy in” to you right away, as that will get you closer to your goal faster.

Here are some tips: mimic their style, put yourself in an attractive light and don’t create distractions. What does mimic their style mean? It doesn’t mean be who you are not, but rather present yourself in such a way that will look good to the other party. Think about when you walk through a cosmetics department, don’t you look for help from the sales person who looks most pleasing to you, or most resembles a look that you’d feel comfortable with? Mimic their look means to create a look for yourself that will be most pleasing for them to receive you. Negotiations are all about getting the other party to listen to you. Your hair, your clothing and your accessories should all be in tune to the tastes of the other party. It’s like music, what they see should flow easily on their eyes and then that opens their ears and mind to hearing you. Your look should never be filled with distractions. You don’t want the other party to feel like there is noise in the room and they need to turn it down. If the other party feels that way upon their initial viewing of you, then they will never be open to hearing your negations. A winning look is a good start to gaining all you want. Good luck!

Women tend to think of getting along vs. getting what they want. Be clear about what you want and practice asking for it in a calm, direct manner. Our advice: don’t be confrontational. Getting fired-up and emotional may have an adverse reaction.