Initially defective system of preparation for negotiations

The problem is that in any traditional negotiation training it is assumed that the parties must eventually agree.

When I was studying in Cape Town, this bug in the minds of my colleagues came to light almost immediately. Even the cunning Arabs, prepared to bargain, sharply gave back when they realized that there might be no result at all. Europeans did it just outright.
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Let's do it again. There are good conditions, there are normal, there are bad. Some can be turned into others. But if you understand that from bad conditions you cannot do normal, then the only logical way out is to stop the negotiations as soon as possible. You do not need compromises, strange solutions and long conversations. You need to get up and leave.

This means a few common things.

1. You do not have to agree at the end

Suppose you offer a product for 10 thousand rubles. Success in negotiations is not a criterion of how much you ultimately got for it and what difficulties you went through. It may well be a success that you are ready to pay 6 thousand rubles, this product will not give you for such a price - and the subsequent refusal.

Once again: success is the acceptance of only the suggestions you need. And it took 5 seconds or 6 days - not very important. From the fact that the proposal is unfavorable to you as a result of the talent of the negotiator, psychology, pressure and trades became a little less disadvantageous, the essence does not change. What is important is the result, not the process.

First determine a point for yourself when you are ready to agree. Then try to move in an advantageous direction from it. Compare the result with the original goal - and, if it does not fit, adyu. Only not “turning the table over”, but so that later it could be continued if the conditions change. Save all positions, and then, if necessary, continue in six months from the same place.

It is important to understand that many salesmen are often well trained to persuade, call back, put pressure on the psyche, use the feeling of guilt, somewhat distort facts, and so on. Hence the second principle.

2. Do not be a humanitarian

Business is numbers. It's hard to fool math. Again, if a question about the cost of a contact in an advertisement tells you a metaphor about company growth and good, favorable conditions are not numbers. You are being cheated somewhere. The same applies to all other things not supported by numbers or examples.

Translate the dialogue in the plane of mathematics. What exactly gives the counterparty, how much, under what conditions, what is needed from you. This is very sobering.

I have a wonderful friend who listens attentively to all the sweet promises in the spirit of “you will get a big profit,” nicely records them and with a charming smile asks if she truly understood everything. When the negotiator confirms this, the smile becomes even more charming: "Then let's put it in the contract in specific formulations."

So, it is not necessary to smile, but the method is beautiful.

3. Calculate pro and contra, and do not evaluate them emotionally

Practically in any transaction there are things that cannot be directly expressed by the ruble. For example, speaking of advertising in the paper press, this may be a feeling of personal grandeur (it is better to throw it out of the equation in general), the need to get the first publications to be noticed; status for a supplier who considers everything to be obsolete press coverage mechanics; the need to get into the industry magazine for further contacts with the right audience and so on. The main question is how much the same thing would cost you through other channels.

In any transaction, we mentally roll a piece of paper for ourselves in two parts: what we get, and what the counterparty gives. And then we weigh, albeit, perhaps, without reducing everything to one unit (money). It is important that we clearly understand what we get and how much.

There is still an advantage: in chess, a good move does not necessarily lead to the capture of a figure - it can provide an excellent position for the further development of the game. So in the negotiations: often now we need an advantage that will be realized in a year or two. For example, sometimes capturing the benefits is a good job in the right area in a portfolio (big brands know about it and bargain, using it as a lever).

4. See what examples you are shown.

Around this place of negotiation, when you detail a deal, the ballad about cases and portfolios begins. Actually, you are shown mega successful examples of clients who worked with this company. Like any portfolio evaluation, this one must begin with the removal of outliers. Specifically - the best work (the worst was removed without you, believe me).

And then - just look at the middle and bad examples. And expect that you will not get an optimistic forecast, but something in the spirit of 40 other cases. In general, the assessment of the worst works is a good indicator of how experienced performers are. For a professional, the result is generally stable, and quite rarely the worst job is an order of magnitude different from the best.

By the way, the lack of a distinct “golden” portfolio is not a minus. In general, if a company has 20 successful projects, it may not be particularly interested in the twenty-first.

A successful case in the form of a “crystal dream” should not greatly influence the outcome of the negotiations. Mathematical expectation suggests that regardless of the credibility of the counterparty, you will get an average result. If he does not suit you - adyu.

Again an example from the placement, already - when promoting an application for iOS. Many Runet sites send 5-6 examples of their best materials (supported by their own distribution and external placements). You should find a couple of other not very popular placements and request statistics on them.

Another cool option - when you call the huge numbers on the main, and then the attendance of materials below the level becomes a surprise. Remember how everyone thought that habraeffekt - a couple of millions of people, not 3-5-10 thousand? Because there was no post statistics outside corporate blogs.

5. Catch manifestations of unprofessionalism

If your project manager writes to you with errors, if the contract is framed by a curve, if you change paragraph 4.2.2 to the request, something like “we cannot” with excuses should be given, and if you are billed with hemorrhoids on your part, everything these are not very good signs. Consider that there is still a stage of pre-balancing, a kind of honeymoon. Marriage will be worse.

When the contract is signed - all this will become a harsh way of life. The general principle is very simple: if you see that “fools with the letter m” communicate with you, then it is better not to work with them. Even if the project promises you the golden mountains. Put on people. There is nothing more important. I know an example of a mega successful contract of distant colleagues, where, alas, the coordination of the last picture took six months. All this time there were deductions for a license, that is, in fact, the company was losing money every day because it was crookedly agreed, hoping that everything would go wrong, still adults, everyone needs a result. Not a ride.

6. If you sell - create demand

The game of negotiating a sale is creating demand. For example, we sell not games and toys, but emotions for people. Therefore, it is important for us to make a sale emotionally, demonstrating a piece of what will be at home at the party, rather than pushing for logic.

Often in the negotiations on the sale of something you simply do not have a product, but there are means of production. On the spot, you need to be able to understand what your partner needs, to demonstrate it with sufficient accuracy without working copies in your hands, to obtain data on prices - and only then form the product under the agreement. It is difficult to give a feel for something that exists only in your head, but it happens when it is very necessary. Sometimes we ask for a second round in a day or two, and then we collect a prototype for it so that the expectations are unambiguous. We are preparing and quickly bring what you can sit down and play live. Previously, in this market, past projects showed and said how cool everyone is. For the year of this approach, we began to make the most of all corporate board games in Russia.

Prerequisites

Business is a joint activity. And earn it together. In the general spherical case, a normal counterparty is sincere, does not hide information, adheres to reality and knows for sure the possible jambs. Just like you. And if all this grows together, then mutually beneficial cooperation turns out. If not - the contract is signed, but one of the parties eventually remains dissatisfied or deceived.

The same applies, for example, the same vacancies. This is a kind of negotiation where it is very important to disclose cards in advance. For example, I remember interviews for a content manager: “Do you understand that this is a dull, repetitive job without any particular growth prospects?” Try for the sake of interest to hear this from Eychara in a large company.

It is clear that the situation when everything is extremely open is emasculated and rarely occurs. However, if you have an inner understanding, at which point you can safely give up without any special emotions - this drastically changes the nature of communication. And every year we have more and more such business meetings, oddly enough. There is, of course, a moment with the fact that we consider all possibilities in advance and do not change the price for a fixed piece of work. The reason for the price reduction can only be such things as changing the configuration, reducing development time or technological price reduction, but not the fact that someone has bargained. The negotiation process is not a sale, but a discussion of the functionality that will be included in the release and the conditions for its implementation. An attempt to sell more is an offer of additional functionality or additional circulation, for example.

It is also important to understand that often the “push harder” strategy is also generally not very beneficial in expectation. If the transaction is unprofitable by one of the parties - the counterparty will stop working at a random moment. The essence of trading is to receive for 5 rubles what your counterparty considers profitable to sell for 5 rubles. At the same time, you can put him on pressure to 3, and he will take you to 10 - but in the first case you will quickly lose him, and in the second - he will have you even faster.

Business - it does not squeeze and quickly zahavat. This is the alignment process. For a long time.