Negotiate Smart with Soft Touch

In his greatest role in a short but brilliant movie career, James Dean played Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause. In one of the key scenes, Jim is facing off against his arch rival, Buzz, in a game of chicken, where they drives toward each other at full speed, the loser being the first to chicken out or turn away. The outcome is tragic, with Buzz dying and Jim becoming a fugitive.


When negotiating, we often play chicken too — trying to bluff the other party. As in Rebel Without A Cause, it becomes a test of strength, of nerve. Whoever blinks first, loses.

We fall into this bluff game for several reasons:

• We want to show the other side we are powerful.
• We want them to see how much in control we are.
• We believe bluffing is one of the accepted ploys in negotiation — it’s just how you play the game.

  

This desire to appear powerful and in control to the other party is only natural — but it can backfire. It can be one of those occasions when the most satisfying thing to do is not the smartest thing to do.


Ironically, in negotiating, there are times when having less control — and letting the other side know it — makes you more powerful.

  

To illustrate this point, imagine another hypothetical game of chicken. Driver A and Driver B are speeding toward each other — both determined to make the other change direction first.


Suddenly, Driver A disconnects his steering wheel. (Not a feature of your average car but this is hypothetical, okay?) He then holds the steering wheel outside the car so Driver B can see it. Instantly, Driver B realises that even if Driver A wanted to change direction, he can’t. Driver B can see two options: change direction or die. He changes direction. Driver A — with less control — wins.


Here are two ways this principle could work for you in negotiation:

  

Non-negotiable factors

Every bargaining situation involves a number of factors. Often, these will be of different importance to each party, so your aim will be to quarantine those factors you least want to bargain about.

One way of doing this is to let the other side know that there are some factors which are outside your control. It might be a board directive, organisational policy, regulatory requirement — any authority outside your reach.

Now don’t quarantine too many factors, or you’ll have them thinking they are dealing with the wrong person, but the typical reaction is for them to focus on the areas you can negotiate on.

This tool of the unreachable authority has been used since negotiation started and it can work for you. Try a line like this: “I can understand how you would like a lower price; but the way our system works, that is outside my control. If you can accept that, I am able to look at varying the delivery schedules and payment terms. Could that work for you?”

Deadlines

A common belief in negotiating is that the party under the most time pressure loses. So, if you are facing a deadline, you may try to hide it from the other party lest they use it against you.



Again, although counter-intuitive, it can be the smartest thing to do to tell the other party about your deadline. Then, if they are serious about wanting to deal with you, it will become their deadline too.



Deadlines are a powerful tool in the negotiation process. Sure, they are stressful — but they make things happen. The reason for this is that if people don’t know how long a negotiation will last, they tend to hold back in their bargaining — keeping as much as possible for later. With a deadline in sight, they are more inclined to play all their bargaining chips.

  

In fact, deadlines are so effective, I often suggest arbitrary ones — simply to generate action. If you have a deadline that is real and outside your control (for example, seasonal factors) you don’t need any artificial ploys. You have the best of both worlds, so use it.

  

Experience has shown that your default position in negotiation is not to share information. While I am not advocating unbridled openness in every negotiation, often the smart sharing of information can really move the process forward.


Sometimes, it is so unexpected by the other side, it shocks them into sharing information they otherwise would not. Now, there’s real progress.


Article by Kevin Ryan, an international speaker, workshop leader and author with Training Edge International. He is a business communication expert specialising in employee and client engagement, sales and presentation skills. 



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Timing Is Everything

Ask any comedian about the secret to telling great jokes and he will say “timing”. Baseball great Warren Spahn summed up the game with, “Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing.” 

Matthew Perry, of hit TV show Friends, said: “I love the idea of ‘the one’ but I actually believe that there isn’t a Miss Right. There are 12,000 Miss Rights out there and it’s all timing.” 

Well, it’s the same in negotiation. Your timing — especially at critical points — can determine the success or failure of your negotiation.

When you start

The success of your negotiation will be determined as much by the work you do before you get to the negotiating table as by what you do at it.

Relationships are rarely built across a negotiating table — this is where they are tested. So, you need to make sure the relationship is strong enough to withstand any test.

The better your relationship with the other side at the start, the better you will be able to understand their interests in the negotiation which will open up more options for a mutually beneficial agreement.

How well prepared are you? Do you have all the available information? Do you know what they know? Which of you is under the most time pressure? Is the cycle of the seasons, the market, the news working for or against you? These are all questions you should answer before you start negotiating.

When you say no

The ability to say “no” and still have the other party want to negotiate with you is the mark of a great negotiator. The latest book by William Ury, a senior fellow at Harvard University and one of the greatest thinkers in negotiation today, is titled The Power Of A Positive No. 

If this negotiation fails, what alternative ways can you meet your needs? These options should be determined as part of your preparation and monitored because in a fast-moving world, they may change over the course of the negotiation. 

Most importantly, these act as your reference point — especially when the bargaining gets tight — so you know when it is best to walk away.

When you give in

Negotiation is about give and take. Part of your preparation is to know what you are prepared to give, and what you expect in return. Smart negotiating involves “giving in” on the issues that are of relatively low importance to you and getting in return something that has higher value to you.

When to put your best deal on the table

Research has shown that most negotiated agreements are reached within sight of the deadline.

If negotiations are concluded early, some people will think: “If I’d held back a little longer, could I have got a better deal?”

It’s only human nature that most of us don’t put our best deal on the table until right on the deadline because we don’t want to give away too much too soon.

Making your offer “time-limited” can be a good way to get the other party to come forward with their best offer.

So, whether you are negotiating a multi-million dollar deal, a raise in your salary or which movie to see with your spouse —your timing will determine your success.

Article by Kevin Ryan, an international speaker, workshop leader and author with Training Edge International. 

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When things go wrong

Service recovery is often an element that is not given enough attention by most organisations.A well-delivered service recovery programme is key to building customer loyalty despite the negative experience of the customer. 

Customers expect service providers to understand their predicament and also the critical component that “missed the mark”.

They expect the people involved in service recovery to be empathetic and, if possible, to include a positive surprise or two.

I am confident we have all, at one time or another, come across examples of organisations or service providers who have had successful service recovery moments.

These include hotels that empower their staff to provide the appropriate service recovery, to staff who have seemingly gone out of their way to impress their customers after a bad experience.

Can these successful models be emulated for your organisation?

Can staff be prepared for such situations and be expected to make the right calls?

The answer to both is, of course, yes — once organisations recognise the importance of effective service recovery.

Be human, not robot

It is vital to instil the importance of providing effective service recovery at operational and managerial levels of the organisation.

Each employee must understand the importance of retaining customers and drive the culture as a team.

But what must be included is the buy-in of each employee at the individual level — the “I” mindset, as a champion of customer-retention.

A large number of local organisations rely on processes, which greatly diminishes the ability of customer service staff to show concern and empathy to customers.

They follow standard operating procedures rigidly and demonstrate robotic responses when service breaks down.

They assume every probable customer complaint can be anticipated — and is therefore the same — and adopt a standardised service recovery technique for every customer.

Every case is unique

Customer service staff have to treat each complaint case as a unique situation.

To achieve this, they must have good listening skills to fully understand the exact nature of the customer’s issues.

The world’s best airlines, hotels and retailers, for example, realise that if they fail to understand the issues in the first place, it is simply not possible to provide an acceptable reply to the customer who has faced a negative experience.

What then, is an acceptable timeline for a reply?

First, recognise that a reply need not equate to a solution. A reply can be an acknowledgement and a plan on how you, as a service provider, plan to manage the situation.

Conveying this in the shortest possible time will help ease the concerns of your customer.

The most effective guideline to this is to ensure that the customer need not make a second visit or a follow-up call just to obtain an acknowledgement.

The actual solution delivery to customers also needs to convey preventive measures (or planned preventive actions) to assure them that the situation will not recur.

It is crucial to enhance the customer’s experience in a service recovery situation.

Consider customer’s effort

Service providers need to self-reflect and consider the effort the customer has made to complain, the time the customer set aside to spend with their organisation to listen to the planned actions and solution(s), or even how he may have been emotionally affected by the experience.

Service providers have to provide an offering that is impressive and a show of gratitude to the customer for all the effort he has put into making the complaint. 

In essence, you have to remember that customers who complain only make up the tip of the iceberg of customers who are not wholly satisfied with your organisation’s service delivery.

Most customers simply choose to stay silent and do not return, switch to the competitor or even turn to other avenues of complaining (not to your organisation).

They voice their dissatisfaction to provide you with an opportunity to win them back — consciously or otherwise.

To give less than serious attention to this would be a costly mistake.

Alternatively, if you are able to impress them with an acknowledgement of your organisation’s shortcomings, a satisfactory reply and an action plan to prevent such incidents from recurring, you will win over a loyal customer or advocate.

All the time and effort you spend on branding and advertising to gain an edge over your competitors can be derailed by ignoring a few bad customer experiences.

That is why it is vital to implement an effective service recovery plan.

Article by Louie Tai, a senior consultant at Training Edge International.



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