In negotiations, what is the end result? Chris Voss who teaches negotiations at universities on both coasts as well as worked for the FBI and has a consultant group called Black Swan Ltd. would say the answer is Yes and How? You can watch a number of You Tube videos and read the book. Mr.Voss’s book written with Tahl Raz is called Never Split the Difference published by HarperCollins, NY, 2016. As you prepare for your negotiations (there is an example of what to prepare for) you need to know what you think is good. If the object is to remain someone to deal with in the future and do good deals, how should you negotiate? what clues do you look for?

As you go through your negotiation you have to consider no is not the end of the conversation. No means under the existing parameters the answer is no, so your task is to remain calm and pleasant and ask if other ideas could work. There is usually space between a yes answer and a no answer. As you are talking, if you can summarize the facts as you see them and hopefully the other person agrees and tends to say “that’s right”. Now you have made the person at ease or relaxed them and the negotiations may still be very tough, but both sides are in a relaxed mood.

One of the keys you are looking for is the unknown, unknowns – what are they thinking about? what is driving the deal? what their emotions are? what are they passionate about? What they do not say, can be as important as what they do say. If a negotiation is a more relaxed phase, it is possible that when you are summarizing a point, the person corrects you accidentally. This accidentally correction can be the missing piece of the puzzle you are looking for, which allows for the deal to be done.

If you achieve a yes, the reality is in about 50% of deals, they will not be completed. The reason can be someone wanted a deal, but people back at head office said no for a variety of reasons. Therefore what you want is a yes and how? how will this get done. What do you need to do to accomplish it? Can you?

Mr. Voss believes lying is the wrong thing to do, because someone will find out. Once they find out you will realize the industry is small and your reputation will be gone – no one will want to do deals with you. One of his lines – never be mean to someone who could hurt you be doing nothing. Remember people always have an option.

Tactical empathy is important so if there is an “elephant” in the room – deal with it at first – turn your negative into a positive. If you deny your elephant, then the person will become defensive, you do not want that. Deal with it and move on. The idea is to make the other person feel like they have won because they will need to deliver on Yes and how?  Try to end positively for some a simple question of is there anything else you can do or are you powerless? It is often amazing how people will jump through hoops to do something.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, there are a multiple theories in negotiations and Mr. Voss offers his. For owners of dividend paying stocks, we expect the companies to be in business for years to come, which means we want their people to do deals when both sides feel they have won. If your company has a chief negotiator that no one in the industry really wants to do business with, people will try not to. Reputation matters – what is your company’s reputation.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.