Skill negotiation and negotiation strategy: What is "successful" negotiation?

One day Alice passed away. She came to the branch point of the road and saw a Cheshire cat in the tree. "Which way will you take?" She asked.

"Where do you want to go?" That was his reaction.

"I do not know," Alice replied.

"Then," That is not important, the cat said.

Alice in Wonderland

Sometimes a dark question ...

What constitutional "success" in negotiations is sometimes a dark question. Nevertheless, in planning your negotiation strategy, Asking is a very important question . In order for the negotiation to succeed, it is necessary to arrive at the planned destination. Your negotiation strategy is about how you will arrive there. Therefore, in order to plan a negotiation strategy, you need to know where you are going. But unlike Alice, if you do not know where you are going to go, the strategy you choose will not matter ...

Therefore, the negotiation plan and the final negotiation strategy can begin for the first time after you and your team have agreed to the destination you want to reach, and after knowing the opponent's selected destination. Certainly, it is difficult, if not impossible, to establish an effective negotiation strategy until everyone in your team has agreed on that destination. And you can almost certainly see that you are struggling for rigorous and steep slippery slopes until you agree with your destination.

From time to time, the "success" of negotiations can easily be quantified. For example, sometimes it is simply measured in terms of the price ready to buy or sell what is being negotiated for purchase or sale. Obviously, you are negotiating in the dark, unless you know the maximum purchase price of the goal you are prepared to pay, or the lowest selling price of the goal you are preparing for sale. In such a case, setting goals ensures that what components are "successful" and will either reach the destination or not.

What is not clear is that it constitutes a "success" in more complex business negotiations than a one-time transaction that the parties can never do business again. In these more complex cases "success" can mean a lot and can not easily be quantified. As long as you and your team do not clearly define your destination, members of your negotiation team may unknowingly interfere with the process of reaching it.

How will executives and their lawyers look different from "success"

Over the years, on my business trips all over the world, I regularly visited something I have never surprised me. Several of the most successful executives I've encountered seem to have different ideas from their lawyers' successes. The result was almost always funny. And for the executive there was never anything particularly good.

For example, some of these officers saw long-term negotiations on "success". They concluded that the negotiations were successful because we thought that the negotiated contract was successful only if we created a long-term relationship of value for a long time since the contract was concluded. These executives focused on ongoing business value and the potential for each side to expand business with others. They understand that in order to achieve this, both sides must build and nurture the relationship with the other side. As a result, these executives understand that the success of negotiations can only be justified a few years after the agreement is concluded.

Lawyers representing these senior executives sometimes took short-term views and often adopted a scorched land approach for negotiations. For them, the success of the negotiations was simply reflected by the signature of the documents they negotiated and drafted. For them, they succeeded because the ink was still dry at the party. signature. And it did not matter what kind of massacres are claiming in the process for them. It was not a big deal if the feelings were hurt and the ego was cooked along the way. It was important that the document was signed ...

Obviously, although the problem of this scorched approach is likely to be a signed agreement, the long-term impact of this approach may be disastrous for relationships vital to long-term venture success There is that. What these experts could not understand is that business reality, Cost of acquiring new business opportunities to replace the value of ongoing business relationships and existing business relationships.

Also, what they did not realize was the scorched approach You can hurt relationships . They do not understand that negotiations are magical windows that the camps can see to see what it's like to join a future business. My experience is that it never goes better than people do when they want something from you. If they unjustly wrongfully and do not have a common court in negotiations, You can bet on the farm This is how you handle you ever since ink has left away with your consent form. As a result of this scorched approach, the other party does not regard the relationship potentially as a long-term relationship. Instead, ink will be released in your agreement from most moments and they will start looking for other people or companies to replace you. Your attorney or other representative gives you a bad disadvantage if you use an approach that is inconsistent with your goals.

One conclusion ...

So, before deciding to negotiate, please decide what you need to find out "success" in your negotiation. And if your goal is to build a long-term continuing relationship and an agreement that is worthwhile for a long time since the contract was concluded, make sure your team is on the same page as you please. Therefore, it is important for the process to build a negotiation team that is synchronized with the goal.