This is an article I always reference for job offer negotiations, but the principles would apply to negotiation in general. The most important concept to understand is: you can split a pot between two parties in ways that result in both of you getting more of what you want.
Yeah, but I would say it’s less important that you can find a win-win solution, and more important to get in the mindset that advocating for your own interests is not the same as being selfish.
A lot of people fail at negotiating because they don’t want to be seen as selfish, but especially when it comes to negotiating with a corporation, they’re banking off of you feeling that way. Know your worth, and make sure you’re fairly compensated.
On a related note, this is also the point of a union/collective bargaining and why companies hate them. They know that some people are better advocates for themselves than others, but they know that most people are bad at it. Divide and conquer.
Read books about how to negotiate. You can stand on the backs of giants. I’d start with “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie, as it’s a good guide on how to just deal with people.
From The One Sentence Persuasion Course by Blair Warren: “People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies”
I’ve found this helpful when trying to convince anyone of anything. The book breaks it down more, of course, but is probably not worth reading Vs the various summaries you can find online.
My summary, at least what I took from it is that you must try to understand the person you are negotiating with/pursuading. Figure out what they want, or what they’re afraid of, and offer that.