Smart Skills: Negotiation

Anthony Jacks

• Publisher: Legend Business
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781787198630
• Topic: Développement personnel
• Subtopic: Négociation

Book 1 of the Smart Skills series: practical guides to mastering vital business skills and techniques. Using proven strategies from business experts, these essential smart skills can empower anyone with the tools to get ahead.

Become a master negotiator with just 7 key steps

Negotiating is a part of everyday life, but in business it's absolutely critical to your success. In the current challenging work and business environment, never has the skill of negotiation been more important, both with new clients and existing ones. Whether you are negotiating a one-off deal or managing a long-term project, securing the appropriate and best deal is paramount in any workplace... business success or failure can depend on it.

This book will provide you with all you need to know, including insight into processes such as: • Preparing a strategy with multiple options • How to deal with pressure, tricks and tensions • Maximise return on investment (ROI) You will also be given an in-depth look at the vital after-negotiation period where skilled negotiation is required to resolve emerging problems as a deal is executed or a service provided.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction: Getting the best deal

Chapter 1. Negotiation: Getting to grips with the core approaches

Chapter 2. Preparation: The route to achieving success

Chapter 3. Trading: Achieving successful balance

Chapter 4. Making It Work: Good tactics, bad tactics and downright ploys

Chapter 5. The Interpersonal Dimension: The behavioural interactions

Chapter 6. The Fine Print: The contractual elements of a deal

Chapter 7. Focusing on the Key Issues: Attention to detail

Chapter 1

NEGOTIATION:
Getting to grips with the core approaches

‘I love negotiating. It’s creative. I love the feeling of seeing something and saying “I can do something with this”.’
Phillipe Edmonds

Negotiating can be deceptive in that there may be more to it than at first meets the eye. Consider what negotiation is not. It is not simply stating a grievance. Imagine that your watch has come back from the menders and is still only doing a good job of telling you the time on the planet Mercury (where a day lasts 59 Earth days). It would be most people’s instinct to complain, but often without proposing any remedy. At best, complaints produce apologies. At worst, they produce arguments in which threats produce counter-threats, and this can ultimately result in an impasse. All too often communication can end up this way.

It starts with a complaint: “productivity in your department is dropping, sales results are below target”, and deteriorates into an argument: “No, it’s not”, “There are good reasons for that” … and so on. What you really want in such circumstances is action. You have to suggest, or prompt, a proposal: something that will put things right. Arguments cannot be negotiated, only proposals can.

This, in turn, demands that emotions are kept under control. Always remember that negotiation is a delicate business, one which needs thinking about carefully both before and during the process.

The win-win concept

It is inherent to the process of negotiation that both the parties involved end up feeling satisfied that an appropriate deal has been struck. It may not be exactly the result they hoped for, but it is one they can realistically agree to. It is this outcome that gives rise to the description of what is called a “win-win” negotiating situation. Thus: win-win negotiation recognises the realities of the process and accepts that matters must end with some degree of satisfaction for both parties, especially when one negotiation lays the foundations for further ones.

Some individuals feel they must win every point, deliberately aiming to create a “win-lose” approach. Always remember that negotiation is a process of some give and take, and that if both parties accept this then a win-win approach is more likely to achieve a productive conclusion. Consider the implications. For instance, to achieve a win-win outcome you must:

•   Put the emphasis on seeking common ground, rather than fighting for your way on everything.

•   Relate to the other party and their concerns, rather than just objecting to them.

•   Have a readiness to compromise, at least to some degree, rather than remaining inflexible.

•   Allow discussion to accommodate to and fro debate, rather than insisting on a rigid agenda.

•   Ensure discussion includes questioning – and thus listening – rather than just giving statements of your case.

•   Disclose appropriate information, rather than maintaining total secretiveness.

•   Build relationships, rather than bad feelings with other people to smooth the way.

•   Aim for agreement and not stalemate.

A win-win conclusion should normally be your aim. Complexities demand care. Several elements need to be borne in mind if the process is to move along satisfactorily. Overall: negotiation is the process of identifying, arranging and agreeing the terms and conditions, whatever they may be, of a deal.

Initially persuasive communication is where one party puts across their case and, in their own mind, the other person begins to accept it even if nothing is tacitly said at this stage. As agreement in principle begins to emerge the question switches from “Will this person agree?” to “On what basis will they agree?” Each party is then concerned that every detail making up the deal will suit them as much as possible. It may be impossible for both to be satisfied 100% on every factor; indeed this probably will not be the case, but the balance must be right.

NEGOTIATION IS TRADING

The different factors that must be agreed during negotiation are called variables. They may indeed be many and various, and this fact contributes to the overall complexity of the negotiation process.

Let’s illustrate the point. Imagine you are going to make some major household purchase: a refrigerator, perhaps. Which model you buy, and from where, will depend on a number, perhaps a surprisingly large number of factors – variables. There is price, of course. But there are also factors about the fridge itself: the star rating of its freezer unit, the size, number and arrangements of shelves, bottle-holding capacity, the colour, which way the door opens, and so on. There may be other, less obvious factors. How much does it cost to run? Will they deliver it, by when and with what certainty? Will they carry it up to a third floor apartment? What payment terms are available? What guarantee and service arrangements apply? You can no doubt think of more.

This kind of purchase may consist only of checking and considering such factors and then making a decision, but some of the factors may not be fixed. Some will be offered – or not – by the supplier, others have to be suggested and negotiated. Only when something has been raised, discussed and agreed can it become part of the deal.

A balance is necessary here. Both parties may need to give as well as take. You agree to delay delivery by two weeks and they will deliver free of charge when they have a van coming your way. They agree to knock, say, 10% off the price if you agree to pay cash. And so on. In other words, you trade variables. You swap aspects of them to balance and re-balance the deal. Such trading may use all or part of a variable: for instance, you might agree to collect the fridge, foregoing any kind of delivery, but in return for a greater discount. Of course some options and decisions preclude negotiating: buy from a website, for instance, and the price may be right but the rest of the deal is usually fixed.

A key principle to keep in mind is that understanding, identifying, assessing and trading variables are at the core of negotiation and are what, above all, can get you a good deal (we look at just how we work with this a little later).

The jigsaw pieces of negotiation.

Variables are the jigsaw pieces of the negotiation process. Each one has a scale of possible decisions on which you must settle and agree. For example:

•   Discount: none or 50%.

•   Delivery: this afternoon at exactly 3pm, this week, next week, sometime ...

There are often many variables; you need a clear idea about what position on the scale is likely to be acceptable to both sides, and the relative importance of different ones. The more variables there are, and the harder they are to prioritise, and the more complex the negotiation becomes, the human interactions inherent in the process complicate the negotiation.

MAXIMISING THE LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS

Try to wing it and you may look back after a meeting and conclude you lost out. Perhaps you failed to recognise the need for negotiation. If such an underestimate is made, then any transaction will be handled inadequately and the end result is likely to be a bad deal. For example, an administration manager may telephone a supplier to complain about an incorrectly completed service on a company car. A complaint may produce no more than an apology. If the manager wants something done about it he or she must suggest a remedy – maybe balancing the inconvenience of the car going back in with the seriousness of any fault and the option of leaving it until the next service.

There are many different approaches possible here, and very different arrangements may result from them. If you see something as negotiation, but go at it like a bull at a gate, or focus exclusively on a single element or allow the transaction to develop into an argument, you are unlikely to achieve mutual agreement.

Three interrelated fundamentals are important:

•   What you do. The techniques and processes of all sorts that are involved.

•   The manner you adopt. The manner you employ and the effects this has on those with whom you negotiate.

•   Preparation. The first two fundamentals are both dependent on this one. Given the complexities already mentioned, preparing for negotiation is no more than common sense. Yet it is easier said than done. Probably more negotiators fail to reach the best arrangement for want of adequate preparation than for any other reason.

A positive approach is essential; so, remember the old saying quoted earlier: you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. Success does, of course, have to be earned. It was Vidal Sassoon who said: “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” Making negotiation work, as in so much else in life, does not just happen. People with good skills in this area tend to make it look easy. A good cook or a skilful public speaker make what they do seem effortless, but this does not mean that a good deal of preparation has not been necessary for this impression to be given. Accepting that some preparation is always necessary, however long or short the process may need to be, is the first step to deploying the right approach.

Getting a step ahead

In many kinds of negotiation no quarter is given. For instance, think of the vehemence of some international negotiations between nations, or of certain wage-bargaining situations. A great deal may hang on the outcome and the negotiator needs to have every trick of the trade on their side in order to create an edge. Despite the complexities involved, things should be already be starting to fall into place.

Anyone with whom you negotiate is likely to apply pressure to get the best deal. They will be intent on fighting their corner, meeting their objectives, financial or otherwise, and will do their best for their own position – not yours. Never underestimate the skill or resolve of those with whom you negotiate; if you assume anything let it be that you need to pull out all the stops. To do that there is something basic and straightforward that helps – you must make sure that you are well prepared. If preparation sounds like a bit of a chore, take heart: it pays to do your homework and sound preparation can give you your first edge in negotiation; an edge that can make all the difference to the outcome.

Chapter 2

PREPARATION:
The route to achieving success

‘If you are not planning where you want to be, what reason or excuse do you have for worrying about being nowhere?’
Tom Hopkins

Again, do not regard preparation as a chore. It’s not; attempting to wing it is likely to put your whole strategy in jeopardy. Preparation is an essential preliminary to success. So, if that is so, the next question concerns how to go about preparing to negotiate. Do you think of yourself as inexperienced at – and perhaps even wary of – the process of negotiation? If so, this is, at least in part, doubtless only because you are still to some degree ill-prepared for doing it. Being well-prepared breeds confidence, and that alone will help you boost your expertise. Confidence allows the process to be better managed than an ad hoc approach ever can be. In addition, appearing confident will be read by others as competence; the way you appear is very important, as we will explore later.

The process of getting well-prepared may constitute just a few moments’ thought prior to the start of a conversation. It may be a few minutes, or an hour or two of homework. Or it may mean sitting round the table with colleagues, thrashing out the best way forward and sometimes even rehearsing what will be done. Whatever scale of preparation circumstances dictate, the nature of the negotiation process means it must always take place – it can give you what others may feel is an “unfair” advantage, one that stands you in good stead throughout the process.

FOCUSING ON OTHER PEOPLE

Sound preparation needs to consider two interrelated factors:

• The other people involved

• Your own position.

As you prepare you must first consider the person (or people) with whom you must negotiate and, if appropriate, the organisation they represent. Negotiation may take place with all sorts of people: customers, suppliers, business colleagues (or your boss, or subordinates) and with people you may or may not know personally. Questions need to be answered about such peo...