Insights on Business and Sales Negotiations

Nogotiation Blog

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.

Negotiation Examples: Managing Internal Conflict

January 4, 2013

Not all books on negotiation skills cover how to handle internal dissension or conflict during important negotiations. There’s a reason we included it as the third of K&R’s Six Principles™ of Negotiation: A team divided is a costly team. Here is an example of how one of our seasoned negotiation consultants, “Hank,” handled a very difficult situation with a member of his own team before joining us at K&R. Hank’s client had put together a strong team to negotiate a deal with an Israeli company. This was one of his client’s biggest deals ever in the country; huge commissions were riding on it. The client had a local negotiator in Israel who was very talented, but also very strong-willed. We’ll call him “Attila.” As a result of his inability to be flexible when…

International Negotiation: More About Preparing to Win

December 14, 2012

In our previous post on international negotiations, we discussed the critical importance of preparation and gathering facts. You can’t control all the factors, but you can control your knowledge base. The bigger that base is, the higher the chances for success. As noted before, your charge as an international negotiator is to conduct thorough background work on everything that could impact your potential deal. This includes trying to account for cultural influence on business behaviors, regulations unique to that country, and more. Here we will suggest information sources that will widen your knowledge base and make you a more credible negotiator. In some cases, access to these sources may be limited due to considerations of distance or protocol. Watch as Mladen Kresic discusses…

International Negotiation: The Facts and The Culture

November 5, 2012

We once assisted a Japanese client company (we can call them “Friendly”) in negotiating a strategic alliance with an American company (whom we will call “Abrasive”) that had a reputation for being challenging. Prior to our meeting, we contacted a colleague who had done business with Abrasive. Our friend warned us that the lead negotiator would be very confrontational. Understanding that our clients at Friendly were inclined to maintain harmony, we discussed the potential problem with them beforehand. We asked them to let us handle any adversarial moments. Not long after negotiations began, the lead negotiator for Adversarial announced, “We are going to use our contract, and if you don’t like it, you can leave!” The Friendly team leader became visibly uncomfortable, but…

Negotiating Seminars in a Box: K&R Negotiations Offers Free Video on Principles of Negotiation

October 9, 2012

Negotiating seminars often come at a price. For businesspeople who want a quick foundational primer on best practices without attending negotiation classes, K&R Negotiations now offers a complimentary, one-hour video - a negotiation seminar in a box. The video features a talk conducted by K&R Negotiations CEO Mladen Kresic, whose firm has helped companies across the globe close hundreds of millions in deals using practical and proven methodology. Watch from the comfort of your home or office as one of the world’s negotiation experts shows you the foundational principles that have resulted in shorter close cycles, bigger deals, more repeat business and long-lasting, profitable relationships for K&R Negotiations clients. In a short amount of time, you will learn these secrets of successful…

Six Principles Every International Negotiator Should Know: Terms Cost Money; Someone Pays the Tab

September 11, 2012

This is the ninth post in a series entitled: The Principles of International Negotiation: Finding Universal Value in a Complex World 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. Suppose you are negotiating a private label distribution OEM (original equipment manufacturer) deal, representing the seller. The seller’s standard agreement has a term in the contract that states: "In the event any part fails within the warranty period,…

Negotiation Examples: The Value of Persistence

August 28, 2012

I often ask people, "Who are the best negotiators in the world?" The most common answer is, "Children." Yet, children have never been trained in negotiations (certainly not by us). What makes them such naturally effective negotiators? There are a number of answers to that question. For example, children use tactics of emotional blackmail (screaming in a public place) or they will "negotiate" with principled concessions ("I will eat the peas if you let me stay up until 10."). The answer we hear most often is that children are naturally persistent - they just don't take "no" for an answer. Their wants are simple ("I want a cookie."), yet they have the willingness to repeat the request as often as needed to get their desired outcome. Any parent can tell you about a repetitive argument they've…