4 – Agreement
4
Not all negotiations lead to the result expected by the parties: an agreement.
Negotiation is an obstacle course, so don’t get discouraged, but remain determined to reach that fateful handshake, even if you feel that things are not going in the desired direction.
Excerpts from Black Moves First
There is a lot of science and a lot of art in closing a deal, just as there is in preparing, initiating and conducting it.
To get to this point in the negotiation is to have mastered even complex situations, because many negotiations reach an impasse, where discussions go on and on without reaching a conclusion.
In the closing phase, outcomes, relationships, and the commitments resulting from the agreement are intertwined.
It is important and critical to take the time necessary to verify that no interests have been neglected, even if sometimes there is no time because it is simply over.
Remember that negotiation can be addictive, and in every important negotiation you get so involved that you don’t want to leave the table because it becomes a challenge.
This attitude leads to a decrease in your negotiating power. In this context, it becomes important to listen to your emotions to understand what we would feel, apart from the inevitable remorse, if we decided to leave the table.
I always ask myself what an outside observer, not emotionally involved in the negotiation, would do; I try to answer honestly and behave with the same detachment and coldness.
Personally, I have brought home a lot more than once, but I have avoided overdoing it because I was always thinking about what would happen afterwards.
The best agreement is one in which no one commits himself or others to do more than they can do, such as repaying a loan they can’t afford, producing and delivering more than they can produce, or buying when they don’t need to.
Always consider the closing of a good deal as the beginning of a good working relationship, and never stop working with your negotiating partner until the deal is fully implemented.
Think you’ve worked so hard to reach an agreement and then decide to start a new negotiation?
It seems like a crazy idea, doesn’t it? Actually, no, it’s not.
In a well-run negotiation, there are several stages where value is created through partial outcomes that are then combined into a broader, more comprehensive agreement. In the end, if there is an opportunity to improve overall efficiency and the agreement reached, maybe the idea is not so crazy after all.
How many times have you walked away from a negotiation and said: “If only I had…”, only to realize that some value was left on the table, and that if there had been a chance to negotiate further, you might have been able to negotiate a better agreement, different from the one already reached?