If you open second, then you have the opportunity to respond to whatever the other person says
At the opening stage:
Create a positive atmosphere quickly.
Respect cultural expectastions of behaviour.
Establish a framework: agenda, procedure, roles.
Agree a timetable.
Establish a framework: agenda, procedure, roles.
Stress common interest.
During the negotiation
Listen and clarify the objectives of the other party.
Check to make sure they understand you.
Focus initially on areas of agreement.
Make constructiveproposals.
Be clear, firm and to the point.
Handle conflict positively.
Be creative and flexible when bargaining.
Reach a position of mutual advantage.
Ending the negotiation
Summarise and agree the deal.
Clarify future responsibilities.
End positively.
After the negotiation
Recognise success.
Learn from failure and improve for next time.
Build up and extend a new relationship.
Some golden rules
| DOS | DON`TS |
| · have clear objectives with strategies for concession and fallback · know the negotiating culture of your partner · be flexible · when bargaining, give what is cheap for you and valuable to them · keep your true objectives secret as long as possible · be friendly when you haggle over money | · never set unrealistic targets · never give anything away without getting something in return ·never be the first to make an offer ·never accept the first proposal ·never alter your offer without hearing a counter-offer · never say “no”, say ‘if” · never make promises you can’t keep |
Useful Expressions
| Making an opening statement Welcoming Welcome to ... I'm sure we will have a useful and productive meeting ... First meeting We see this as a preparatory meeting ... We would like to reach agreement on ... One of a series of meetings Following previous meetings we have agreed on some important issues. Today we have to think about ... Stating your aims and objectives I'd like to begin with a few words about our general expectations May I outline our principle aims and objectives today ... We want to clarify our positions ... Stating shared aims and objectives Together we want to develop a good relationship It is important for both of us that we agree on ... Handing over I'd like to end there and give you the opportunity to respond to this. I'd like to hand you over to my colleague ... , who has something to say about ... Bargaining We can agree to that if/on condition that ./as long as ... That's not acceptable unless/without ... Making concessions If you could ... we could consider ... As/so long as ... we could agree to ... ? We could offer you... /Would you be interested in... ? | Accepting We agree. That seems acceptable. That's probably all right. Dealing with conflict I think we should look at the points we agree on ... We should focus on the positive aspects ... We should look at the benefits for both sides ... It is in our joint interests to resolve the issue ... What do you think is a fair way to resolve this problem? I think we should look at the whole package, not so much at individual areas of difficulty. Perhaps we could adjourn for a little while. I think we need to consider some fresh ideas ... Rejecting I'm afraid we can't ... Before agreeing to that we would need ... Unfortunately ... I don't think it would be sensible for us to ... Ending negotiations So, can we summarize the progress we've made? Can we go through the points we've agreed on? So the next step is ... It's been a very useful and productive meeting. We look forward to a successful partnership. Breaking off negotiations I think we've gone as far as we can. I'm sorry, but I don't think we're going to agree to a deal. It's a pity we couldn't reach agreement this time. Unfortunately we appear unable to settle our differences. It would be better if we looked for some independent arbitrator. |
Negotiating at a glance
| Opening | ||
| Greetings | Welcome to… It’s good to see you. | |
| Introductions | I think you have met… | |
| Small talk | So, how was the trip? Can I get you something to drink? | |
| Establishing a framework: agenda, procedure, roles. | OK. Shall we get started? To begin, we should agree an agenda. May I suggest that we….OK? Just to clarify roles… As for timing, I hope we can finish by… If you have nothing to add, we can move on to outlining our position. | |
| First moves | ||
| Establishing positions. | The main objective of today’s meeting is to… To begin, I would like to review the background up to to day. OK. Let now turn to our objectives to day in more detail. Just interrupt me if you want to clarify anything. Basically, we would like to…/It is essential for us to… Futhermore…/In addition… How does that sound? Any questions? OK. Can we now hear from your side? | |
| Questions | Could we just clarify one thing? | Sure. Of course. |
| How important to you is…? | This depends on several factors. | |
| So, if I understand you correctly, you would like… | Yes, although let me clarify one thing… | |
| Bargaining | We propose… | OK. From our point of view… |
| We would be willing to…if… | I think we could go along with that provided that… | |
| That is out of the question. | The major obstacle seems to be… | |
| What do you think is reasonable? | Well, so long as you….then we could… | |
| We can agree to that. | Great. I think we are making progress. | |
| Agreement and close | ||
| Summarising | I think we have a deal! Can I just run over the main points of the agreement? We have agreed to… We will…at a later date. Is that correct?/Do you agree? | |
| Agreeing a deal | OK. We can draw up a contract next week. | |
| Ending | It just remains for me to say thank you for coming. I think we have a good deal and a basis for a long term relationship. I look forward to the next meeting. For now we can finish here. |
