Your Underdeveloped Commercial Negotiation Skills Capability Could Cause Critical Negotiations To Fail Due To Inappropriate Preparation
Two parties are busy in a negotiation - one succeeds in achieving his/her objective(s) and is satisfied, whilst the other walks away unhappy with the outcome. Does this scenario sound familiar?
Do you often feel unhappy with a settlement that you have reached? Have you sometimes entered into a settlement only to feel remorse soon after reaching a settlement?
SUCCESS VS FAILURE
What differentiates success vs failure in business negotiations?
Most of us understand the importance of preparation to deliver positive results and it is therefore remarkable to note that most business negotiators do not spend sufficient time planning for negotiations, often due to poor negotiation training. Professional sports people spend considerably more time preparing for a contest than they spend in competition; should it be any different for business negotiators?
THE EVIDENCE
Commercial negotiators only spend more or less 1/3 as much time preparing for negotiation as they actually spend in negotiation. If you were a professional sports person, this would mean that you devoted only 1/3 as much time training & preparing as you do in competition. The foremost factor to successful commercial negotiation outcomes is the quality of your preparation for the negotiation.
As a matter of negotiation strategy, consider the following top 5 factors of preparation and at the same time you will simultaneously improve your negotiation skills:
1. Understand Yourself
Before we even apply best- and leading practice negotiation, it is vital that we first understand our own strengths & weaknesses and it is vital that we make use of personal profiling tools to highlight our areas of preference within the context of business negotiations, which enables us to have a reference point from which to plot our skills development.
2. Vision
What is the main objective behind the negotiation? Is the negotiation about price or is it about the value that can be added? What are the key motivating factors behind your counterparty's position? What mutual ground, if any, exists between your and your counterparty's vision? It is important 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 uncover these motivations.
3. Value
What are the main deal objectives being targeted in this negotiation? What are the facts and figures supporting the negotiation environment? What options does each party have, if any? Once again we should try to identify, 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 trigger conflict.
4. Process
Have you spent time preparing an agenda for your upcoming negotiation? Have you listed all the concessions that you will make & receive? Do you have tools/templates at your disposal to support the efficiency of the negotiation process.?
5. Relationship
It is easy to forget that we deal with individuals who have goals & aspirations not unlike our own and it is not always just about the facts & figures. The research is clear that people are more likely to agree with those whom they trust & like, than with those with whom they little in common. Try to focus on those elements that you share with your negotiation counterparts, and do not forget to focus on the people.
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