Amit, a partner with a consulting firm works closely with his client counterpart – Reena, who is a procurement director with one of India’s well known FMCG firms. Amit has been under pressure from his leadership to improve the billing rates, as they had not been revised for a couple of years. Finally, Amit managed to get 45 minutes with Reena to negotiate the rate revision.
After the initial pleasantries, Amit brought up the topic of rate revision and the rationale for the same. Unexpectedly for Amit though, the conversation went into areas that he had not anticipated. Firstly, Reena had some sharp questions regarding the rate increase, which Amit was not prepared for. Reena also hinted at other business opportunities which skipped Amit’s attention. Amit had not considered the scenario where he could negotiate a deal that could have more than just rate revision! As the negotiation progressed, Reena indicated a willingness to consider some part of the original demand that Amit had tabled. However, Amit was not sure if this will be acceptable to the leadership. The result was a meeting that was not productive for either party!
In our experience working with Clients, we often run into these symptoms, that essentially speak to a lack of preparation. Our research tells us that due to inadequate negotiation training, negotiators often do not take the time to prepare beforehand, failing to define their desired outcomes and the questions they'll ask the other side, and at times, entering a negotiation with no intention of making any concessions. All of which can lead to frustration, sub-optimal outcomes and sometimes, deadlocks.
For successful negotiations, firstly, do what you can to allocate time beforehand to prepare. And then define and agree on the desired outcome, considering what is important to you and what might be important to the other side; and prepare the questions you'll ask to fill in any gaps in your knowledge. As we say at Scotwork, failure to prepare is preparing for failure! Only proper negotiation skills training can help you solve the puzzle.
Not to worry! Scotwork India is here to enlighten & equip you with the best negotiation skills that are inevitable to ace business deals smoothly. In an hour or two you can get exposed to lifetime experiences that can be applicable easily to meet real world challenges. Gold standard global negotiation skill training programs at your disposal. Why wait?
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