Your Insufficiently Developed Business Negotiation Skills Ability Could Cause Critical Negotiations To Fail Due To Poor Planning

Your Insufficiently Developed Business Negotiation Skills Ability Could Cause Critical Negotiations To Fail Due To Poor Planning

Two people are busy in a negotiation - one reaches his/her objective(s) and is delighted, whilst the other walks away disappointed with the result. Does this situation sound familiar?

Do you often feel disappointed with an agreement that you have reached? Have you sometimes entered into an agreement only to feel remorse soon after reaching a settlement?

SUCCESS VS FAILURE

What distinguishes success vs failure in business negotiations?

Most of us understand the significance of preparation to deliver success and it is therefore interesting to note that the majority of commercial negotiators do not spend adequate time preparing for negotiations, often due to not enough negotiation training. Professional sports people spend considerably more time preparing for competition than they spend in competition; should it not be the same for commercial negotiators?

THE EVIDENCE

Business negotiators only spend roughly 1/3 as much time preparing for negotiation as they in reality spend in negotiation. If you were a professional sports person, this would mean that you applied only 1/3 as much time training & planning as you do competing. The leading factor to successful commercial negotiation results is the quality of your preparation for the negotiation.

As a matter of negotiation strategy, consider the following key 5 factors of preparation and at the same time you will also improve your negotiation skills:

1. Understand Yourself

Before we even employ best- and leading practice negotiation, it is important that we first understand our own strengths & weaknesses and it is key that we make use of personal profiling tools to underline our areas of preference within the context of commercial negotiations, which enables us to have a reference point from which to plot our skills development.

2. Vision

What is the main goal behind the negotiation? Is the negotiation about price or is it about the value that can be added? What are the key motivating issues behind your counterparty's position? What mutual ground, if any, exists between your and your counterparty's vision? It is key to comprehend the drivers or silent motivations behind the positions of all parties to the negotiation and it is only by asking questions that we will expose these interests.

3. Value

What are the main deal objectives being pursued in this negotiation? What are the facts and figures strengthening the negotiation environment? What alternatives does each party have, if any? Once again we should try to recognise, rank & weigh the objectives of all parties to the negotiation and only then are we in a position to highlight those objectives that are shared and at the same time deal with those objectives that are likely to initiate conflict.

4. Process

Have you spent time preparing an agenda for your forthcoming negotiation? Have you noted all the concessions that you will make & receive? Do you have tools/templates at your disposal to support the effectiveness of the negotiation cycle.?

5. Relationship

It is easy to forget that we deal with individuals who have goals & aspirations similar to our own and it is not always just about the money. The research is clear that people are more likely to deal with those whom they trust & like, than with those with whom they little in common. Try to focus on those interests that you share with your negotiation counterparts, and do not forget to focus on the people.