Negotiating for a better deal is an essential skill in not just the workforce, but in life.

Negotiating for a pay rise, a better deal on your car or even haggling at the markets is all part of the negotiation process. It can be fun, and if you do it right it can make you feeling pretty good about yourself. Here are 5 surprisingly effective negotiation tactics you can use to get the best deal.

This technique is very simple, but effective. Simply put, take the first party that you are speaking to, and name the deal that you want. For the first meeting, act friendly but assertive, assuring the person that the deal that you’ve been offered was just the first part of the process. Leave the meeting and allow some time to pass. Speak to a completely different party about the deal, but come across a lot more relaxed, just letting them know that you’re just curious about finding more information. After that, go to the first person you spoke to and assert that the second party only partly agreed to the deal. The first party will almost always agree to the complete terms of the deal (so long as it is within reason). It’s a pretty clever tactic that seems to work a lot more than you may realise.

This is a tactic I’ve seen used time and time again. The tactic is simple, but also effective. Enter the interaction and state your walkaway terms, or the lowest point that you’d be willing to go to accept the deal. The counter offer that follows will generally be the most favourable deal you can get.

The term “post” comes from the terms in basketball of placing yourself directly under the basket, at the most minimum distance between you and the basket. Any push back that the opposing team puts against you will still place you in a favourable position to score.

The left hander is a tactic that is a little unorthodox, but if done well may also get a desirable result for both parties. Under the assumption that neither party is budging in the terms of an agreement, the left hander can be used to relax people into believing the terms are in fact not as bad as they seem for the other party.

All the left hander involves is creating a sense that you’re prepared to walk away from the deal at a moments notice because you’ve got another deal to tend to, but you’ll keep this party in mind. The insinuation is that you still care about the deal, but you’ll keep your “left hand” on it, or in other words, you’re not committed completely to finalising the deal. Generally, the other party will realise that the deal may be in favourable terms to them, and go about shifting their perception to change the deal to be more favourable for you. It doesn’t work all the time, but if you’re stuck in a deadlock it may help break that.

Negotiating is part of most roles, and to do it well you’ll need a clear strategy and tactics. For smaller deals, these three tactics can work brilliantly. It just depends on how well you execute.