Tag: negotiation

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What stands in the way of our deal in negotiations?

450px-Istanbul_-_Museo_archeol._-_Trattato_di_Qadesh_fra_ittiti_ed_egizi_(1269_a.C.)_-_Foto_G._Dall'Orto_28-5-2006
Istanbul Archaeological Museum – Oriental pavilion. The tablet containing the Qadesh treaty between the Hittites and the Egyptians (1269 BC.) – Picture by: Giovanni Dall’Orto, May 28 2006.

Small business owners often don’t reach deals, deadlock in their negotiations or, worst of all, reach an agreement that isn’t viable and won’t be implemented.

The average or untrained small business negotiator may tend to achieve similar results from a negotiation time and time again but not know where they are going wrong. Yet many small business owners, solopreneurs and professional consultants who possess above-average negotiation skills conclude more favourable deals.

People have been negotiating since early times. One of the earliest negotiations I could find was a peace treaty reached between the Hittite and Egyptian empires after the ca. 1274 BC Battle of Kadesh. Although it is a treaty, it has elements of negotiation such as a mutual assistance pact against attacking third parties and repatriation of refugees.

Fast forward 3000 or so years and you will find the entrepreneurial financiers such as JP Morgan in the US and financier and industrialist George von Siemens in Europe who was one of the founders of the Deutsche Bank using negotiation to build industrial empires.

As modern management developed in large businesses as well as the smaller entrepreneurial firm, you’ll find many agreements were reached and decisions made through the use of multilateral decision-making – negotiation which is the fair exchange between two parties. Continue reading “What stands in the way of our deal in negotiations?”

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Are you ready to negotiate?

United States cover
United States cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It looks like a simple question but is it really?

The strange thing is that I’ve only met probably two or three people who have told me that they are trained in negotiation. I’m not sure what it is but South African small business owners don’t seem to see the real need for negotiation training. I don’t know if this is similar around the world but negotiation here is viewed as something you just learn instinctively as you go along.

It’s no wonder that small business owners often find negotiation doesn’t work for them. They feel frustrated after a negotiation, not having achieved much after hours of discussion. Often their negotiations deadlock. Then there are those who feel afterwards that they’ve done well in a negotiation but are mystified why their adversary appears so satisfied. Continue reading “Are you ready to negotiate?”

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Do we have a deal? Stand up guys can agree fast when the gun is loaded

Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (Photo credit: André “Gigopepo” Persechini)

Al Pacino in “Stand up Guys” plays an old criminal (Val) who gets out of prison after 28 years. He wants to have fun – sex, drugs and food – but little does he realise that a mob boss has hired Al’s best friend Christopher Walken (Doc) to kill him.

At one point in the movie Val and Doc have discussed an issue – and they have plenty to talk about in this feel-good crime comedy – and Val asks, “Do we have a deal?”

Under the circumstances, Doc is agreeable to just about anything Val wants to do because he has the impossible task of killing his best friend by 10 AM the next morning.

Decisions aren’t reached so fast in real-world negotiations that take place between small businesses owners and the host of people they end up negotiating with. It’s not what the negotiation books tell you. Some negotiations can take months or even years. Continue reading “Do we have a deal? Stand up guys can agree fast when the gun is loaded”

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How can you avoid the dreaded deadlock in negotiations?

Deadlock: Planetary Conquest
Deadlock: Planetary Conquest (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Friday after supper I went to a local neighbourhood pub in central Johannesburg and was surprised to see so many couples kissing. These weren’t people in their early 20s but couples close to the halfway mark in years.

I’m not sure if it was the warm inside contrasted against the cold highveld temperature outside that welcomed Eros into the midst of these late evening lovers. It could have been the free-flowing friendly atmosphere. All the heady affects of Bacchus’s gifts of wine and spirits. Who knows? It may have been the sensuous music oozing through the overhead speakers at just the right level.

But one thing was certain. These loving couples were not strangers. They had come there to relax, let off their tension from the working week and were out to enjoy themselves.

One of the biggest mistakes negotiators, whether small business owners or company representatives, make is to not build common ground before they begin to discuss the issues tabled on the negotiating agenda. Continue reading “How can you avoid the dreaded deadlock in negotiations?”

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How to effectively deal with the blowhard bully in negotiation

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From best stunning pictures from National Geographic Photographic Contest. Follow this link to see the original: http://beenidrew.com/national-geographic-award-winning-pictures/

In negotiation for your small business you deal with all types. People of varying intellect and emotional maturity. The most hard nuts I’ve had to deal with are those who wear their hearts on their sleeves. They feel aggrieved at the slightest pressure. They take offence at anything that doesn’t go their way.

These are the sneaky competitive types in negotiation who are takers and not givers.

But worst of all is when one of these seemingly intellectually deprived, emotionally immature people blow up into a full tirade. They will speak rapidly as if they are in a catatonic state. It will look as if they are drooling. They will shout and scream at you as if they are still in the cradle having a temper tantrum for mommy.

Humans are predators. The blowhard bully in negotiation will show their eyes and their teeth. This is part of the reptilian or lizard brain (the amygdala). It is the side that hurts, tortures and kills others. Continue reading “How to effectively deal with the blowhard bully in negotiation”

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Negotiation — it’s not all bare-knuckles and dirty tricks

Red in tooth and claw

Top negotiators keep their best methods tucked inside their wallets. They may dish out occasional pearls of wisdom with an *ahem* delectable price tag at conferences and seminars. But most of us have to learn in the trenches like everyone else.

What does a small business, entrepreneur or startup need to know about negotiation?

Negotiation is a give-and-take process between two or more parties who want to reach an agreement or resolve a conflict.

This sounds like a dry dictionary definition. But we need a place to start. What an agreement implies is that it should be acceptable to both parties. And if it isn’t? Well, either party has the veto or right to say no to a proposal or decision. Continue reading “Negotiation — it’s not all bare-knuckles and dirty tricks”

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Who ever heard such nonsense about negotiation?

Whether you run a small retail or manufacturing business, a service outfit or act as a solo consultancy, you must have at one time or another been personally involved in some difficult negotiation that tested your mental powers to the limit.

As you wracked your brain for solutions, thought up ways to secure the best deal for yourself and visualised solutions to protect your interests, it’s hard to argue that your imagination wasn’t being stretched.

I came across some research the other day about creativity not really playing a significant role in negotiation. I’m not sure I even understand these academics but in my experience and observing other business people locked in negotiation I’m absolutely convinced that creativity does make a difference in negotiation.

Before we see how creativity influences negotiation, let’s look at what negotiation means. In the real world, all the academic definitions of negotiation don’t make much sense. What’s more grounded in reality is that negotiation is really about finding some sort of agreement that is mutually acceptable. It might require compromise. But if you don’t like the envisaged outcome you can always say no and walk away.

Negotiation is important to all of us because we do it all the time. At home, at work, at play.

I recently participated in several role playing negotiations. What I was struck by was that the negotiations deadlocked every time for these reasons: The negotiation team members did not creatively imagine their opponents’ world. They did not fully understand the world of their customer or seller and therefore could not make a fully imaginative assessment of their needs, wants and desires. With more creative thinking, viewing the problem from different perspectives, they could have immersed themselves more fully in their customer’s world.

The other area where they could have used more creativity was to brainstorm and invent more options for mutual gain. And in instances where there was no hope for this, they could have walked away from the deal.

Making conditional proposals, so the other side can’t get what they want from you without you getting what you want from them in return, requires creativity. So does setting the agenda or order of business. Deciding what issues to discuss first and which ones to deal with later is a very creative act especially when the stakes are high.

These are just a few instances of creativity in negotiations. In these economic times it is crucial that you negotiate the best deal with your customers, suppliers and other business people.

Leaving money on the table doesn’t only leave a bad taste in your mouth, it also hurts your bottom line.

 

Stay inspired

Chesney Bradshaw