Advanced Negotiation

Skills

Homayoon Nassimi
Who are the negotiators?
Good negotiators are made and not born.
Good negotiation demands putting
effectively into a practice a range of skills
and a series of different approaches.
What does negotiation mean?
Possible Definitions
 A give-and-take trading process by which the
conditions of a transaction are agreed and acted
upon.
 Negotiation involves an attempt by two or more
parties to complete a transaction through the use of
bargaining.
 To negotiate is to confer with another party or parties
for the purpose of coming to an agreement.
Commonly Used Phrases

 Confer and exchange views

 Come to compromise agreement
 Bargain or trade with each other through give
and take
A Workable Definition:

Negotiation is a process through which

parties move from their initially divergent
positions to a point where agreement
may be reached.

Key Words:
1.Process
2. Move
4 Pillars of Negotiation
1. People
2. Movement
3. Process
4. Task
 Your real world is a giant
negotiation table, and like it or
not, you’re a participant.

Herb Cohen
When is negotiation necessary?

Negotiation is necessary when two or

more parties (who are in, or who
could enter into, a relationship of
some sort, e.g. political, business,
personal) are faced with a difference
of point of view or objective.
 A Riddle:

You pay $8200 for a car and you are happy.

I pay $8000 for the same car and I am unhappy.
How come?
Why some negotiations fail?
There are three common reasons why
negotiations fail:
1. The views or the positions of the parties
involved are simply irreconcilable.

Parties move from their ideal position through to what

they see as a realistic position and then on to what
they regard as their fall-back position,
beyond which they cannot move.
The Negotiation Spectrum
Ideal
Fall-back

Fall-back Ideal
Why some negotiations fail? (Continued)

2. Sever clashes of personality between the

negotiators.

3. A party to the negotiations is taken beyond

his authority and so can move no further.
Advanced Negotiation Skills

Basic Approaches to Negotiation

Basic Approaches to Negotiation
Parties move from their initially divergent
positions usually in response to one or more
of the following approaches:
 Compromise
 Bargaining
 Threat
 Logical Reasoning
 Emotion
Compromise
 It seems a fair way to reach a settlement
 A compromise usually comes with:
1. Let’s meet each other half way - 50/50
2. Let’s split our difference between what I want and what
you want
 Compromising is quick and is often used to
break a deadlock in a negotiation
 Compromise is different to bargaining
 A compromise is made over a single issue
Compromising Rules

 Rule one: Try to take an extreme but

credible position
 Rule two: Only use compromise as a
last resort
 Meeting Halfway

£1.00
75p

50p £1.00 £1.50

If a buyer is offering 50p per widget, and the seller is asking £1,
the compromise will fall around 75p. However, if the seller asks
£1.50, the compromise will fall around £1
Bargaining

Bargaining is a method of extracting

value from a deal by the exchange of
various items (variables) that each
party values
Bargaining Rules (1/2)
 Rule one: Do not indicate that you are
prepared to move quickly from your position.
 Rule two: Move slowly, making the other
party work for every concession they get
 Rule three: Avoid putting markers down
 Rule four: Get a return for any concession
you make
Bargaining Rules (2/2)

 Rule five: Avoid putting pressure on yourself

 Rule six: Avoid the slippery slope of granting
one concession after another
Your success in bargaining will depend
on winning greater value than you
concede
Rules of Threatening
 Rule one: Before you threaten, think about
the consequences
Use Brains before Brawns
 Rule two: Use mirrored or emotional threats
rather than crude ones
Don’t force me to look elsewhere for this product
Rules of Logical Reasoning
 Rule one: Be careful how you use the why
approach. Most people resent their logical
position being picked over; they become
frustrated if others quibble over minor details.
Question, but don’t nit-pick
 Rule two: Get your logic first
 Rule three: Maintain the credibility of your
logic
Emotion
Emotion can be a very powerful approach in
negotiation. After all, negotiators are not
automatons. Indeed, if we examine many
of the decisions we make, emotion play a
far larger part in them than we might care
to admit.
 Emotion

Control your emotions; don’t let them control you

Emotion

Emotion

time
time
Golden Rules for Persuasion (1/5)
Compromise
1. Compromise favors the person who takes
the more extreme but credible position
2. Compromise is a behavior of last resort
3. Don’t be too quick to compromise
4. 50/50 is not the only compromise
5. The party who suggest a compromise will
probably accept the other position
Golden Rules for Persuasion (2/5)
Bargaining
1. Do not be too eager to show you are prepared to move
2. When you do more, do so slowly and in small steps
3. Don’t expose your position (at least not too quickly)
4. Get a return from any concession made and say thank you for
any concession given. This takes ownership
5. Exchange things that are cheap, for things of value
Golden Rules for Persuasion (3/5)
Threat
1. Before you threaten think about the
consequences
2. Hint at threat. Use a mirrored or remote
threat
3. Threat at the business level, not at the
personal level
4. Never make a threat that you cannot carry
out
5. Add threat to bargaining by using “IF”
Golden Rules for Persuasion (4/5)
Logical Reasoning
1. Do not be too quick to ask “Why?” you may get a
number of very good reasons that could make
refusal difficult.
2. Get your logic in first
3. Do not dilute your argument with too much logic
Remember KISS (Keep It Simple and Straightforward)

4. Don’t waste your logic on someone who will never

see it. change your persuasion
5. Counter their logic with your emotion
Golden Rules for Persuasion (5/5)
Emotion
1. Control you emotions, don’t let them control
you
2. Use emotion from sincerely held beliefs
3. Use emotion early
4. Emotion can counter logic
5. Use emotion to increase the perceived
value of your bargaining (straw issue)
Strategic Negotiation Skills

6 Phases of Negotiation
The Six Phases of Negotiation
1. The preparation and planning phase
2. The opening phase
3. The testing phase
4. The moving phase
5. The agreeing or concluding phase
6. The review phase
The Preparation and Planning Phase

In the context of Negotiation,

Preparation and Planning have
distinct meanings
The Preparation and Planning Phase

 Preparation is concerned with researching the

issues to be negotiated and is likely to include:
 Establishing the current state of the market
 Understanding precisely what your own requirements
are
 Researching the other party – perhaps a supplier or
customer
 Deciding what your targets and your own negotiating
spectrum is – choosing your Ideal, Realistic and Fall
Back positions
 Making assumptions where facts are not available
The Preparation and Planning Phase
 Planning is where you look forward to the
negotiation, imagine how the session will proceed
and plan your strategy. Some of the questions you
will try to answer here will be:
 Where will the meeting be held?
 How will I open the negotiation?
 How are they likely to respond?
 How can I set the Agenda?
 How can I condition them and reduce their
expectations?
 If in a team, what role will each team member play?
 How will I respond to the difficult questions and
issues that they are likely to raise?
The Preparation and Planning Phase

PREPARATION is the WHY of negotiation

and
PLANNING is the HOW
The opening phase
The purpose of the Opening is:
 To establish a relationship and set the scene
 To take control - sensitively and assertively
 To communicate your own expectations and
begin to condition the expectations of the
other party
The opening phase

Make sure that you place the meeting

at the location best suited to yourself
and least suited to the other party
The opening phase
Remember the power of a first impression – it
does count!
 BE ON TIME – never late
 Good firm handshake
 Maintain eye contact
 Smile
 Use the other person’s name (make the
meeting personal)
The opening phase

One of your first tasks is to check the

person or team opposite has the power
to negotiate and has the authority to
take decisions
The opening phase
Actions to be taken:
 Decide the type of opening and statements to be
used
 Identify “common ground” issues to ensure that you
at least start together
 Decide how to phrase your requirements – enough to
start discussions without revealing your whole hand
 Plan credible comments about your needs and
possible “diminishing” comments about the other
party’s position
 Decide tactics for obtaining and keeping control
The testing phase
Information is crucial to the outcome of a
negotiation and the purpose of this phase is:
 To obtain information from the other party
and test one’s own assumptions
 To assess how firm the other party is on key
points
 To probe for weaknesses in the other party’s
arguments and diminish confidence in them
 To “fly kites” and observe responses
The testing phase

Take the initiative in this phase with a

well-practised and thorough
questioning technique
The testing phase

Expert negotiators know how important it

is to practise good listening skills.
These are skills that can be learned and
used.
Hearing is not listening; listening needs
effort and can be hard work.
The testing phase
Actions to be taken:
 Predict the other party’s arguments and decide how
they will be answered or defused
 Use open questions to test assumptions and
encourage the free flow of information from the other
party
 Anticipate the reasoning the other party will use and
gather facts to counter this
 Plan how to find out the other party’s “shopping list”
and to avoid unwittingly revealing your own
 Anticipate Persuasion methods which will be used
and prepare to match them
Getting the other party’s
“shopping list”
Find out what they want by using something
along these lines:
“What would we need to do to get you to do X?”
X being what you want.

Get as full a list of items as possible before

pursuing any one of these.
Then use the “If ... Then” approach:
“If we do Y what do we get in return?”
The Moving Phase

A negotiation can involve movement or

change towards an agreement that is
seen as beneficial to each party
;however,
this does not mean that the process of
movement has to be bi-lateral.
The Moving Phase
The purpose of this phase is:
 To persuade the other party to move as far as
possible towards the position desired, bearing
in mind that some concessions may be
necessary using the 5 key approaches as
follows: Emotion, Logic, Threat, Bargaining
and Compromise
 To control the extent to which you move from
your “Ideal” Settlement point and to know the
total cost implications of any movement
The Moving Phase
Actions for this phase are as follows:
 Work out the cost of any concession - estimate the costs
of concessions which may be made by the other party
 Order concessions - which will cost you least - yet would
be valued by the other party
 Consider the personal needs of the other party as well as
their corporate needs
 Plan how the other party can concede without losing face
 Plan recesses or adjournments – it will help you keep
control.
The agreeing or concluding phase

In this phase, you need to be prepared

either to make an alternative offer or
to accept the offer on the table.
This presumes that you haven’t
decided to call it a day, i.e. go
elsewhere.
The agreeing or concluding phase

If an Agreement is to be made then the purpose

of this phase is:
 To reach a workable agreement on the points
at issue
 To agree next steps
 To control what has been agreed
 To set the scene for future business
relationships
 To gather information - for next time
The agreeing or concluding phase

It is at this time that

misunderstandings will be ironed out
and final numbers agreed.
Details that were left ‘on the back-
burner’ need to be clarified and the
final terms and conditions signed off.
The agreeing or concluding phase

At the final stages of a deal it is

possible to strengthen relationships
ready for the next round, next time.
Never underestimate the importance of
this stage.
The agreeing or concluding phase

Remember:
 Prepare closing tactics - summaries and get
agreement to these summaries
 Decide how confirmation of points agreed will be
done and retain control of the confirmation process
 Prepare proposals for next steps should agreement
not be reached
 Don’t forget - people often reveal information during
the post-agreement relaxation period which they
were not prepared to do during earlier phases
The agreeing or concluding phase

Key aims for this phase:

 Don’t trust to memory – write it down
 Make the final agreement a pleasant
experience
 Make the other party feel that they have
‘earned’ the deal
 Don’t show triumph
 Try to build the basis for a long term
relationship if appropriate
The agreeing or concluding phase

Negotiating proper really begins in

phase three. Many negotiators make
the mistake of going from the
Opening Phase to the Agreeing
Phase without spending sufficient
time at the Testing/Information
Gathering Phase.
The review phase
This phase could also be entitled
‘Measuring for Success’
The Post Negotiation Review is often
missed but it is an essential
ingredient of a successful
negotiators toolbox.
The skilled negotiator is constantly
seeking to improve – to be more
successful.
The review phase
Therefore you must measure your success or otherwise
 Outcome – look at what you planned and what
actually happened
 Were your objectives SMART?
 (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and
Time bound)
 What aspects went well – what didn’t?
 Check behaviours of both parties against the results
 What could I or we have done better?
 What were the concession patterns?
The review phase

DON’T FORGET

This could be the start of your

preparation for the next negotiation
with this party.
Strategic Negotiation
Skills

7 Tactics for Negotiation

Introduction

The Oxford Dictionary defines Tactics as:

(a) A procedure calculated to gain
some end.
(b) Skilful devices.
(c) The art of disposing forces.
Introduction
If we look closely at the Dictionary definition, a
number of key words can be identified.
 In (a) we have the word "calculated", implying
care in the choice of those to be used, and
the need to consider the timing of their use.
 In (b) the word "skilful" emphasises the need
for skill on the part of those using them.
 In (c) the word "art" suggests that training and
experience are needed to be able to make
optimum use of them.
Introduction

Consider each negotiation

separately and decide which
tactics are appropriate.
Introduction

Consider the other party or parties to

the negotiation.
Remember, PEOPLE negotiate, not
companies or organisations.
Some tactics will work better on some
than others.
7 Tactics for Negotiation
1. Building Block Technique
2. Broken Record
3. Silence
4. Recessing
5. The Hypothetical Question – ‘What if……’
or ‘Suppose’
6. Salami
7. Onus Transfer
More Tactics!
 Sudden Telephone Call
 Back Burner (Parked Issues)
 Doomsday
 Linking Issues
 Third Party
 Defense in Depth (Layers)
 PDT (Physically Disturb Them)
 Deadlines
 Taking Temperature (Informal Set-ups)
More Tactics!
 Personal Favor
 Dumbstruck
 Good Cop Bad Cop
 Let’s Go for Lunch
 Side Issue (Minor Issues as Major Ones)
 One more Thing
 New Faces