There are many approaches to negotiation.  Think about your negotiations that have been the most successful.  Why did these negotiations work so well?

In many cases, the things that make or break negotiations are preparation, empathy, listening, and telling a story about why our position is the most appropriate in light of the circumstances. 

Preparation

For a simple negotiation, preparation may consist of simply going over notes about the person or thinking about the person’s challenges. 

In more complex negotiations, our preparation may be much more elaborate - perhaps even reading annual reports, biographies, press releases, and industry information.

Empathy

Empathy and genuinely caring about the other party’s success help us craft better solutions and establish a  positive relationship with the other party. 

When we want to see the other party succeed, what steps do we take?  Now, think about the steps we take when we don’t care about the other party’s success.  Which approach is more likely to lead to a positive long-term relationship?

Listening

There is a famous saying about having two ears and one mouth and using them in those proportions.  When we listen, we show the other person that he or she matters. 

Cultural differences, different experiences, and differences in perspective can form barriers to communication that prevent us from understanding what the other person is saying.  This is one of the reasons that it is so important to take the time to develop an understanding of the other person’s culture.

Positioning

When negotiating, we want to make it easy for the other people to understand what we are saying.  How can we do this?  A strategy that may help us is to think through the situation from the other person’s perspective, then tell our story from that person’s perspective.

In preparing for the negotiation with “Joe,” we should ask ourselves:

1. What matters to Joe?
2. What is Joe trying to accomplish?
3. What is preventing Joe from achieving the results he is seeking?
4. Why are the results important to Joe?
5. How can we help Joe achieve his goals?
6. What options will help us achieve our goals at the same time Joe is achieving his goals?
7. What results can Joe expect from the solutions or options that we are suggesting?
8. How can the results be measured so that Joe will know that he has achieved the results we promised?
9. If the results aren’t realized, what can we do to help?

Using the positioning information

Depending on the situation, we may need to shrink the positioning information down to a 30 second blurb, a website, or expand it to a one or two hour discussion.

By the way, when possible, the information will be much more compelling and is likely to be more interesting to others if we include tiny stories to illustrate key points.

Coming Attraction…

Next week, we will begin talking about how these tips might be use in different negotiating scenarios that we’ve seen in Practical Solutions to Business Puzzles.

If there are specific scenarios that are of interest to you, please feel free to post the scenario as a comment on this blog.  That way, the posts can be tailored to the situations that you actually deal with.

Filed by Coleen Davis at 3:05 pm under Customers, Negotiations, Sourcing