How to conduct business negotiations

 

Negotiations are communication between the parties, when each participant has equal opportunities to defend his point of view.

Let's talk about what exactly business negotiations are and how to build business communication. The article will be useful for communicating with clients, colleagues and partners and will even help in drawing up a marketing quiz, although at first glance, these topics are on different planes. We will answer the frequently asked questions: - What techniques will help you negotiate more productively? - What words can you use to convince your interlocutor of your point of view? - How to respond to a toxic opponent? - What kind of mistakes happen? - How to negotiate correctly? - Why negotiations are needed

Business negotiations will be needed when participants need to make an agreed unified decision that concerns business and sales. There can be many reasons.: - When old methods don't work to achieve results, and new ones need to be discussed. - When there is a problem, but the search for a solution is possible only with the participation of several parties. - When you need to ask questions in the "here and now" mode and dispel the doubts of the participants. - When it is necessary to find points of intersection of interests. - When it is necessary to find like-minded people and create a network of loyal contacts. - When you need to get feedback from the participants. - When it is required to collectively form a solution to a problem.

Ideally, it is assumed that at the end of the meeting, the receiving party will resolve the issue in favor of the negotiator. A marketing quiz is also a negotiator, it can work with a cold audience and warm it up for a meeting with a manager. The quiz arouses interest in the product, collects leads and, ultimately, gives the client a clear idea of the company. In addition, the client can tell a lot more about himself in a playful way than at an official meeting. Read more about how the quiz works in the sales funnel in our article. Negotiations are a separate type of management activity that is the subject of study in many areas, from resolving local disagreements to macroeconomic processes, politics, security, ecology, and others. In addition, negotiations occupy an important place in the life of any business. Therefore, you should use special negotiation skills that will allow you to quickly reach an agreement with all parties. We will talk about them further. What types of negotiations are there?

Let's start with a general typology, and then focus in more detail on business negotiations. What is included in the concept:

Subjects of negotiations

- Financial - Business - Economic - Political - Military - Trading - To resolve labor disputes - Diplomatic

Participants

- Interpersonal - Inter-organizational and International - Individual - Individual meetings with an intermediary (mediator) - Collective meetings with a delegation team - Two-way - Three-way - Multilateral

The nature of communication

- Business conversation - Discussion - Interview - Statement - Message - Dispute - Debates, debates - Disput — a public dispute

Territorial status

- Internal - International

The principle of decision-making

- At the highest level (conducted between heads of State or Government) - At the level of top officials of organizations - At the expert level

Terms of interaction

- Within the framework of the conflict - Within the framework of cooperation

Results

- Fruitful - Infertil

Type of joint solutions

- Compromise (mutual concessions) - Qualitative transition (to a new state) - Narrowing of contradictions (partial agreement) - Removal of contradiction (full agreement) - An asymmetric solution (the benefits of the parties are unevenly distributed).

The specifics of business negotiations include the fact that as a result, the parties must come to some kind of agreement, and not just talk, albeit in an official setting. Two types of negotiations are often used in business: - Commercial and organizational, they are also external (with partners and clients) or internal (within the organization, between employees). - Informal and formal meetings with detailed minutes of the meeting.

By the nature of the interaction, there are 2 main negotiation strategies: - Positional bargaining system — the negotiation process takes place by declaring the terms of cooperation. In this case, the negotiators simply inform the participants of the meeting how they usually conduct business. The purpose of such negotiations is to push through their terms at any cost. It is clear that with such a one-sided approach, there is a low probability that the parties will come to an understanding. - According to their interests, the parties are looking for mutually beneficial cooperation. Various options for interaction are discussed here, with the expectation of concessions that are beneficial to everyone.

Negotiation styles

How to negotiate and in what style the participants will communicate depends on the participants themselves and the goals they want to achieve. Popular negotiation styles:

Friendly style

It will help you find common ground and listen to the arguments of the parties. The parties are equal partners. (Establish interaction with the participants in the negotiations).

Hard style

The negotiator insists on his point of view, provides arguments in his favor, convinces of the benefits of cooperation, demonstrates the position of a leader. (To get a decision in your favor, to show who's in charge here. This is usually the behavior of clients who choose from several contractors.)

Meticulous

He uses figures, facts, and research. The main tools are logic and rules. (Get solutions that fully meet its requirements)

Flexible style

Adapts to the interlocutor, listens to all points of view. Convincing, but not pressuring. (Make a deal at any cost)

National style — American, English, French, German, Japanese, Chinese

It has its own cultural and historical features, differs in customs, the pace of the meeting, and priorities. (In America— to get mutual benefits, in Asia — to come to an agreement and harmony, in Europe — to find out the conditions for fulfilling obligations, etc.)

The style is not regulated, even if they are held in the format of an official meeting with strict timing and all the necessary rituals of business etiquette. In practice, negotiations are conducted in completely different ways. Example: At a general meeting, the CEO may turn out to be very loyal to solving the problems of subordinates, and subordinates among themselves, on the contrary, in an informal setting may put pressure on colleagues and block ways to solve the problem. And with the same introductory conditions, the situation may be the opposite: the director solves all issues using a strict communication style, and departments negotiate with each other using a friendly style.

It is possible to regulate the behavior of opponents, but only partially. Only experience and knowledge will help the negotiator to bring the dialogue in the right direction. That's why they often say "the art of negotiation" or simply "the art of negotiation", it's always a creative process with a bit of improvisation. The style and tactics are chosen at their discretion, there are sources with diametrically opposed approaches.

Here are recommendations for what to read about negotiating. Learning from books at the same time as practice will give results.: - "How to Achieve YES, or Negotiation without Defeat," by Roger Fisher, William Urey, Bruce Paton "I can hear right through you. Effective negotiation technique", Mark Goulston - "Everything can be negotiated!", Gavin Kennedy - "Negotiations" by Brian Tracy - "Psychology of Influence" by Robert Cialdini - "Say NO first," Jim Camp

Stages of negotiations: from preparation to the ideal outcome

Negotiations should be broken down into several steps. The stages of the negotiation process are not an abstract theory, but a guide to action. A clear distinction between the stages and the negotiation plan helps you to quickly master the technologies of business communication and organize your time. For clarity, let's take an example of negotiations between a sales manager of an interior design studio. The first stage of the negotiation process: exploration, preparation, planning We can say that there are global stages of negotiations, which have their own stages. The preparation for negotiations includes the following steps: to learn more about the other side and make a meeting plan. Intelligence service. The studio uses the quiz on the website and in the advertising campaign to attract and explore a potential customer. In the quiz, the company talks about the product, values and standards in its work, and the questions here, as scouts, are the first to probe the context. The quiz creates expectations from cooperation and exactly the impression that the company wants to make on the client.