3 STRATEGIES FOR NEGOTIATING IN DIFFICULT SCENARIOS
We are all in constant negotiation. With others, with yourself; every decision we take is a negotiation. Now, generally most of these negotiations go without major impact and do not add stress to our lifes or jobs.
Some of us, have a more direct contact with negotiating: we do it for a living. We negotiate with suppliers or customers on a regular basis. Although, a negotiation could happen in any kind of relationship as a conversation with your superior or solving issues on a production floor.
Most of these negotiations would be as close as you can get to a win-win situation and everybody goes home happy. However, there are situations where this is not the case, and may cause additional stress, anxiety or binge eating. Here are some strategies in how to manage negotiating in difficult scenarios:
1) Pre-game.
a. Understand your leverage or compromising pinpoints.
Prior initiating the conversation, know what your negotiables and your non-negotiable positions are, and how far/low/long can you go. Remember: Everything you say can be used against you, so don´t promise things your company is not willing to back up. Also, if there are pain points, be prepared for some damage control.
It is crucial to know when you have the best hand or the losing hand, if it is the latter you may need to play a more toned-down approach and try to minimize your losses: either it’s price/cost, risking your supply, losing a sale or compromising your resources internally. How big is the negotiating power of my customer/supplier? Is the market short or long in availability in what I could offer? Do I have enough resources to abide to the counterpart request?
In a Buy/Sell scenario, entering a negotiation without a general grasp of what´s happening in the market is sure to give you a losing end of a deal. Check this article out to expand on this.
b. Playout possible scenarios.
Try to play some possible scenarios of how things could go, this will help you in controlling a reaction or anticipating the scenario and may help in redirect the conversation to more favorable conditions. The ideal scenario is that you are controlling the conversation and conditions of the deal.
2) Game Time.
a. Be transparent.
Lack of transparency reeks like a rotten cheese: it gets noticed quickly. It´s a human defense mechanism to detect deception, so try to be as transparent as possible without compromising your organization or your position. If it is not detected at the moment, would soon enough come back to bite you in the ass when the truth gets out.
There is a difference between being transparent and offering information that could be harming to your goals. By no means this is an invitation to withhold information, or be sketchy when asked some details, but be wary of offering more information than needed.
b. Focus on the outcome.
Negotiating does not have to be a sum zero game; the ideal scenario would be a win-win situation. But try to focus on a final outcome, and not on the little details that can derail your final objective or soured a relationship.
The book ´´Behavorial Theory´´ by Mckerzie & Walton, from 1965 introduced the concept of Integrative Bargaining, where you need innovative ideas come up to close the gap in a deal. One win from one side does not have to be a loss for the other side.
c. Take a Break.
If the conversation goes south quickly, or emotions get hold of the situation, or even if there is data or information that you are not sure about: Take a Break. It´s not unprofessional to request a time out and come back in a day or two, or simply stating: ´´I don’t know these details, I will check and come back´´.
This will allow the situation to cool off. Go, get a grasp of the details and comeback fresh to re-negotiate. Also, taking time off and not thinking about the problem directly, will help you think of innovative solutions and come with a proposal closer to a win-win situation.
3) Post-Game.
There are no two negotiations that are the same and you will always learn from each one. Either you will listen to a more senior person negotiating, learned a new debating style or simply generate a list of ´´do’s & don’ts´´. Take some time to reflect on how it went and what you could´ve played differently or just think on how the message could have been be delivered in a better way.
Playing the possible scenarios is also valid at this stage (not as effective though) but it will make you more savvy for the next occasion.
If the outcome of such negotiation wasn´t in your favor, save the experience and the outcome since it can be used as leverage in following conversations. ´´I compromised the last time, let´s meet in the middle this time´´.
Important to keep in mind that at the end of the day, probably your businesses will continue to depend from one another or will most likely meet again down the road, either working for the same companies or for your own. Today´s ally can be a competitor in the future, or a customer can be a supplier, a counterpart could even end up being your supervisor. So, no matter how much the situations stinks, don´t burn down any bridges. Hopefully this will help you in developing a game plan before stepping into battle with a more skilled negotiator, if so: learn from that experience and on to the next!