POSITIVITY IS
NOT A STRATEGY
FOR BUSINESS
NEGOTIATIONS
When it comes to business negotiations, simply hoping for your ideal outcome is
not enough. To achieve the best possible result, you must be able to manage the
process, writes business mediator Edwina Griffin.
any fitness professionals have
learnt a clear sales process to sell
their services to a potential gym
member or personal training
client. When it comes to negotiating
business partnerships or larger contracts,
however, many go in without a clear strategy
and wonder why the outcome is often not in
their favour.
You need to go into business negotiations
fully prepared for what may happen. Simply
knowing your ideal outcome is not sufficient:
you must be able to manage the process in
order to achieve the best possible outcome.
I often speak to business owners who
consider knowing what they want and
finding proof to justify their position to be
their preparation for a business negotiation.
This approach often results in a ‘no deal’
outcome and comments further down the
track such as ‘If I had realised how much
time and money this was going to take from
my business, I would have agreed to the
original offer.’ People often miscalculate
the negative consequences of sticking
rigidly to their stance in a negotiation. The
aim of a negotiation is to mutually benefit
both parties by compromising on matters
of conflict.
M
The steps to successful negotiation
Some of the key steps to consider for a
successful business negotiation include:
BATNA and WATNA
As a business owner or manager, it is
important to calculate your best and worst
alternatives to a negotiated agreement
(BATNA and WATNA) or business deal. It is
also in your interest to calculate the costs of
failure to the other party: don’t assume they
have done the calculations themselves.
These costs aren’t always just the
direct costs of the deal being negotiated.
For example, the cost to a large fitness
equipment or product supplier of the
precedent for a new workout or style of
training being set in the industry without
their product may be a more significant loss
to them than the direct cost of making some
losses on one sale to you. Hence, they may
be willing to make more compromises in
order to pave the way for potentially larger
future sales.
On the other hand, you may need to
consider the cost of your time and money
in looking for an alternative supplier if you
don’t negotiate a purchase, or, if you choose
When you ask
questions,
sometimes a new
customer need is
identified that you
weren’t previously
aware of
NETWORK AUTUMN 2020 | 49