Posts Tagged ‘regulations’

Sales Negotiators Need To Know How To Use Regulations And Laws To Reach A Deal

Friday, December 16th, 2011
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Regulations and laws can work with a negotiator or against you

Regulations and laws can work with a negotiator or against you

I can only speak for myself, but when I’m headed into a negotiation I like to have as much freedom to do things as possible. That’s why I tend to shudder when I discover that there are regulations or even laws that are going to impact the negotiations. However, maybe I’m not looking at the complete picture.

How Regulations And Laws Can Harm A Negotiation

When we enter a negotiation, one of the things that we need to know even before we sit down is just exactly who is in the room? Sure there are the people who are physically there, but are there requirements and restrictions placed on either side of the table by others? This can have a big impact on the negotiation styles and the negotiating techniques that we can use.

When regulations and laws get involved, that negotiating room can get pretty crowded, pretty quickly. When we have to negotiate with these kinds of restrictions, all of a sudden our options start to narrow. I for one start to fell rather constrained. The negotiation definition is altered in these negotiating situations.

One of the biggest challenges that I’ve encountered to conducting principled negotiation is when the laws that you are negotiating under require you to reveal more information to the other side than you normally would. This tends to screw up the whole negotiation process for me. A great example of this is when you are negotiating with the government – after all, they get to make up the laws. Often times you’ll find that you are required to reveal elements of your product or services’ costs that you normally would not share with the other side of the table. Ouch!

How Regulations And Laws Can Help A Negotiation

Having regulations and laws come and sit at the negotiating table with you is not always a bad thing. If it turns out that they are working for you, then this can actually be a good thing.

The key here is to do your homework before you start any negotiation. What you need to be looking for are those regulations, statutes, rules or laws that support your negotiating position. The more of these that you are able to find, the easier it is going to be to get the other side to come around to agreeing with your position.

In addition to helping you with the other side of the table, regulations and laws can help you better manage your own company. When others in your company see the constraints that you are operating under, they will be more likely to put their support behind your negotiating positions and provide you with the support that you’ll need to be successful.

What All Of This Means For You

Negotiations can be tricky to do well. When regulations and laws get involved, things can become a great deal more challenging. Sales negotiators need to understand how to work in these situations.

These conditions can require that a negotiator reveal more to the other side of the table than they normally would. It’s very important to take the time to understand just exactly what the regulations require you as a negotiator to do.
Depending on exactly what the restrictions are, they can work in your favor. If they limit the other side of the table’s options, then it may become easier for the other side to agree to your requests and reach the deal that you wanted to have negotiated. In the end, that may make it worth all of the extra effort that these restrictions require.

- Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Negotiating Skills™

Question For You: When you discover that regulations and laws may impact a negotiation, what is the best way to research how they will impact how you negotiate?

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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

How did your last negotiation go? Did you and the other side of the table spend your time working through a long list of demands that the other side had made? Did you end up feeling as though you had negotiated for a very long time? The next time that you prepare for a negotiation, you need to come up with a way to streamline the process so that you can reach an agreement quickly. It turns out that you can make this happen by bringing a purple monkey to the negotiations.

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Negotiators Know That You Can Only Win By Taking The High Ground

Friday, October 21st, 2011
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If you aren't on the high ground, then you're not going to reach a good deal

If you aren't on the high ground, then you're not going to reach a good deal

When it comes to how you want to conduct your next negotiation, there are an almost limitless number of ways to go about doing it. Some of them are above board and some of them are downright sneaky. I’m going to suggest that if you want to walk away from the negotiating table with a deal that both sides are going to feel good about, then you’re going to have to take the high ground…

What Is The “High Ground” And Why You Should Care

In order to reach the outcome of a negotiation that you want to, you need to be in the driver’s seat – you need to be controlling the direction that the negotiation takes. The challenge here is that the other side of the table will be trying to do exactly the same thing at the same time.

During the negotiation process, you will take positions and you will ask the other side to make concessions to you. As you might well expect, they are probably not going to be all that interested in making those concessions to you. Your negotiating skills will have to come into play as you attempt to convince them to adopt your views and make concessions.

This process can either be easy or hard to do. You can make it much easier on yourself if you choose at the outset of the negotiating session to take the high ground. This isn’t one of the negotiating techniques that we are talking about. Rather it’s more a part of an overall principled negotiation philosophy.

Taking the high ground during a negotiation means that instead of trying to bully or verbally overpower the other side of the table, instead you rely on solid evidence in the form of both logic and facts. It’s not all about you, rather the reason that the other side should adopt your viewpoint is because of the compelling evidence that shows that it really is the correct way to go.

How To Reach The High Ground

Realizing that the high ground is the correct way to go during a negotiation and then actually taking it are two completely different things. Any negotiation definition tells you that you are going to have conflict with the other side during the negotiation and staying on the high ground can be a difficult thing to do.

There are many negotiation styles that you can choose from when you are starting your next negotiation; however the following four components must always be included in what you do in order to allow you to keep the high ground:

  • Have A Solid Direction: You have got to know where you are going. Having a strong sense of where you want the negotiations to lead to is key to allowing you to retain the high ground.

  • Having History On Your Side: Do your homework before the negotiation and be able to point out how your positions are simply a continuation of what has been agreed to by the other side in the past.

  • Love That Logic: The nice thing about logic is that people can’t really argue with it. Take the time to think out your positions and then present them in a logical fashion to the other side.

  • Use Standards: If somebody else has established a standard then make sure that your proposal is supported by this standard and make sure that you tell the other side this.

What All Of This Means For You

Negotiating can be a tough job. As you enter a negotiation you need to make a decision about how you want to get to the end. There are a lot of different ways to get there, some are above board and a whole bunch are not.

Experienced negotiators know that sticking to the high ground is the best way to conduct a negotiation. Using solid backup material consisting of factual evidence and well-though out logic allows you to convince the other side of the table that you really are looking to strike a deal with them.

Negotiators can be tempted to forego the high ground if they find themselves in a rush – they just need to get a deal done quickly. However, it’s been proven time after time that if you don’t take the high ground during your negotiations, the deal that you negotiated won’t be one that either side will want to live with.

- Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Negotiating Skills™

Question For You: What do you think that you should do if your management doesn’t want to take the high ground?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

P.S.: Free subscriptions to The Accidental Negotiator Newsletter are now available. Learn what you need to know to do the job. Subscribe now: Click Here!

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Negotiations can go on for a long time. When you start a negotiation, you probably have a pretty good idea of where you want to get to. The big question is does the other side of the table share this goal with you? Will they be able to remember this goal throughout the entire negotiation? Hmm, sounds rather iffy to me. Perhaps what you need are a set of guiding principles…

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Posted in negotiation style | No Comments »

Power Questions That Every Sales Negotiator Must Ask

Friday, July 30th, 2010
Image Credit You've Got To Check Your Power Before You Start To Negotiate

You've Got To Check Your Power Before You Start To Negotiate

We all know that power is an important part of any sales negotiation – who ever has the most power is in the best position to get more of what they want out of the negotiations. However, do you know how to check your power before you enter into a negotiation? I know the questions that you need to ask yourself before you start and I’m going to tell you what they are…

Can We Talk About Rules?

Nobody enters into a negotiation without having some rules (or regulations) that restrict what they can or cannot do. This impacts both sides of the table and it means that you have two pieces of homework that you need to be before starting a negotiation.

The first thing that you have to find out is what rules you will be operating under. You might think that you know what your restrictions are, but it’s always a good idea to check with the folks that you’ll be negotiating for and make sure that you know all of rules.

Secondly, you’ll want to spend some time and try to find out just exactly what the rules that the other side of the table will have to live with. There are always some restrictions on what they can and cannot do. If you can uncover what these are simply by doing some homework, then you’ll start the negotiations with more power than the other side has.

What Is Your Level Of Commitment?

There is a fable about a pig and a chicken and their various levels of involvement in creating a breakfast meal: the chicken is partially committed (egg); however, the pig is fully committed (bacon). The same question needs to be asked about the two sides of a negotiation: just how committed are you?

Ultimately the answer to this question often comes down to how much of an impact the outcome of the negotiation is going to have on you. If you are going to lose your job if you don’t get a good deal, then you will be fully committed to making the negotiations successful. However, if this deal is just a “nice to have” deal for your company, then you’re not going to be all that motivated to reach a deal.

Risky Business

Making commitments and compromises as a part of a sales negotiation involves taking on some level of risk. This can be a big deal for both sides of the table.

Before you start a negotiation, you need to determine just exactly what your level of risk tolerance is going to be. Put another way, how much are you willing to lose?

The same question needs to be asked about the other side of the table. What is their current situation? Just how far are they going to be willing to go in order to make a deal happen?

What All Of This Means For You

The source of a good outcome in a sales negotiation is making sure that you have enough power on your side when you enter into the negotiation. In order to do that, you’ve got some questions that need to be answered.

Finding out what rules are governing both side of the table will be key to understanding how the negotiation is going to turn out. Doing some homework and finding out levels of commitment and risk tolerance will also provide you with more power.

Take the time to check on your sources of power before you start your next sales negotiation and you’ll ensure that you don’t run out of power half-way through the negotiation…!

- Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Negotiating Skills™

Question For You: What should you do if the other side is willing to take on more risk than you are?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Raise you hand if you have tunnel vision! Is your hand up sales negotiator? Even if your hand isn’t up, I’m willing to bet that it should be. When we are preparing for our next sales negotiation it is all too easy to get caught up in the moment and forget about, hmm – what do they call it, oh yeah: the big picture.

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Posted in power | 5 Comments »

Negotiation Firestarter: The Take It Or Leave It Tactic

Thursday, January 8th, 2009
Take It Or Leave It Is A Negotiating Tactic That Can Cause Hostility

Take It Or Leave It Is A Negotiating Tactic That Can Cause Hostility

If you really want to set off the other side of the table during a negotiation, one great way to do this is to tell them that they can “take it or leave it.” This is pretty much the verbal equivalent of throwing gas on a fire – you are guaranteed to generate hostility on the other side of the table when you use this phrase.

We react in exactly the same way if the other side tries this tactic on us during a negotiation. This is understandable; however, if we take just a moment to think about it, we should probably be used to dealing with this negotiating tactic.

The deals that are presented to you in the course of an average day are almost all of the “take it or leave” it nature. You see these types of deals in the insurance bills that you get, the groceries that you buy, and the parking ticket that you pay. Although they might not say it explicitly, these are all subtle forms of the “take it or leave it” tactic.

Before you decide to burst into flames the next time that someone uses this tactic on you, take a moment and give some thought to why the other side might be using this tactic. They have decided to only offer a fixed price and here are some of the reasons that they might be doing this:

  • They don’t want every one of their employees to have to have good negotiating skills or to take the time that a negotiation requires in order to successfully complete a deal.
  • They might be willing to negotiate with you on this deal; however, they don’t want to have to negotiate with you in the future.
  • If they negotiated with you and ended up lowering their price, then they would have to lower their price for all of their customers.
  • They know that you cannot afford to “leave it”.
  • They have already dealt with many other customers who had no problem paying their fixed price.
  • They can’t afford to lower their price any more because they are already selling at their rock bottom price.

When you look at it this way, you’ll realize that most business is normally done using the “take it or leave it” tactic no matter what we choose to call it. We need to realize that many prices are set because of existing laws or regulations.

If you find yourself in the position of having to use the “take it or leave it” tactic during a negotiation, then you need to search for ways to reduce the natural hostility that this is going to cause in the other side.

Here are the best methods for reducing hostility when you decide to offer only a “fixed price” to the other side:

  1. Show the laws / regulations that are causing you to have to offer the product at the stated price.
  2. Show the company policy that requires the product to be offered at the given price.
  3. Publish a price list.
  4. Publish a standard list of discounts.
  5. Display the price of your product / service where everyone can see it.
  6. Provide proof that shows all potential customers that the price that you are using is the same price that is being offered to everyone.
  7. Simply make sure that you provide a good justification for the price that you are using.

As always in any negotiation situation, the more discussions that can be held face-to-face the better the negotiations will go. Listen to what the other side has to say and make sure that everyone has a chance to save face and come out ahead.

Have you ever been confronted with a “take it or leave it” deal during a negotiation? How did you react to this? Have you ever had to present a “take it or leave it” proposal to the other side? How did they handle it? Leave me a comment and let me know what you are thinking.

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Posted in art of negotiation | 4 Comments »