Insights on Business and Sales Negotiation
Join us for insights on how to negotiate a winning balance, where where both sides understand and appreciate the value they receive. As a result, you are more likely to forge a long-lasting relationship that yields more and better opportunities in the future. This idea underpins K&R Negotiations’ Win Wisely™ approach and underlines the importance of using leverage wisely.
The Five Teamwork Principles to Follow for Winning Negotiations
Even with a well-crafted value argument and solid customer motivation to get a deal done, the whole process can unravel if negotiation leadership and teamwork are absent. The most effective “tactic” in your arsenal is a unified team. Selecting your team, involving all key players in planning, and maintaining group discipline begin the teamwork that will hold your important deal together.
In our decades of helping clients manage and win complex deals, we have seen five key teamwork principles that are critical to getting the win/win negotiation outcomes you desire.
1. Recognize Varied Motivations, Both Internally and Externally
Everyone has specific reasons for acting as they do. (For example, the other side may stall negotiations if they think you are in a revenue bind, hoping…
Negotiation Lessons from Deadwood
Have you ever appeared at the negotiation table with a thoughtful list of offerings only to realize that your assumptions about those across the table were dead wrong? There’s a scene from HBO’s acclaimed Deadwood series (2004-2006) that illustrates just how uncomfortable it can be to misread or underestimate the other party.
To set the scene: Alma Garret is a widow who has come into a lucrative, well-producing gold claim in the lawless, titular town of Deadwood. Mining tycoon, George Hearst, has come to the camp, slowly consolidating smaller, single-operator claims into one ruthlessly efficient operation. Only Garret’s mine stands in the way of his complete control of the area’s gold mining operations. Hoping to strike a mutually beneficial bargain after a bumpy first meeting, Garret…
Misusing Leverage: The High Cost of a Short-Term Negotiation “Win”
Do repeat business assumptions count in your business plan? If so, the way you conduct your negotiations takes on much greater importance.
Some view negotiation as a series of devious games and ego contests conducted to gain advantage by keeping the other side continuously off balance, intimidated or flustered. We find this approach to negotiation quite short-sighted if your “win” leaves the other side angry, resentful and questioning your credibility. Who wants to do more business with someone who makes them feel as if they have been bullied or tricked? The logical response will be to aggressively seek an alternative the next time around, whether you are a buyer, seller or “business partner.” That doesn’t sound like much of a win to us.
Our version of a win is where both sides…
Leadership in Negotiation: Selecting Your Negotiation Team and Rules of Engagement
Leadership in negotiations is critical. The leader is responsible for setting expectations and parameters for your side in regards to pricing, strategy, deadlines, process management and more. Failing to define this opens the door to many potential deal-ending difficulties, and is likely to erode your position on the way to closing.
There are many moving parts, not least of which is negotiation team selection. Who you choose to have on your side of the table—and more importantly, how they perform while they are there—is going to have a strong bearing on your chances of arriving at a favorable outcome. This consideration goes beyond picking those directly involved. You may need key technical or financial expertise in the wings to build your value case at critical junctures. We know that…
License Compliance and the Value of All Terms in Negotiations
Terms in negotiations cost money; someone pays the tab (bill): This is one of the six foundational principles of K&R Negotiations’ Win Wisely™ method. Every term in contracts and negotiations should be of some value, and each term has an associated cost. As a negotiator, knowing the rationale for a term enables you to articulate the value and identify its cost. The value of the total deal is the aggregate impact of all the terms. If you don’t understand the rationale behind the terms, not only is your credibility impacted, but so is your leverage. The following story illustrates this principle in action.
Gene, a sales rep for a technology solution provider, is trying to sell support services for a client’s e-services distribution infrastructure. The client is a multimedia lifestyle…
Negotiation Blocking Techniques
In one sense, negotiations are a strategic exchange of ideas and information. But the value of what information we give (and when) can have a very real bearing on our success.
As you seek leverage in the deal, you are trying to find key information from the other side. If you’re negotiating with seasoned professionals, you can expect them to do the same with you. Sometimes difficult questions arise that, when answered, could erode your position. For example, if you have few or no real alternatives to doing an important deal, revealing that fact to the other side can cost you dearly. That’s why experienced negotiators have a handful of practiced blocking techniques they use when they feel a certain question must be deflected. As always, consider your purpose, audience and personal style…
Negotiation Insights
Featured On
Popular Topics
Creating Value-Based Leverage
In this short video, learn why negotiation is really the art of finding agreement.
Mladen Kresic introduces the concept of value-based negotiations leverage and why it is a powerful tool for moving conversations to an agreement.
