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Friday, July 13, 2012

Don't Panic At Deadlines

By Chester Karrass


A negotiation book directed at teaching the Japanese how to agree terms with Americans involves the phrase, "It is a certainty the American negotiator will make their flight!?

If this sentence is applicable to you, it is a complete course.

North Americans are known the world over as an "instant gratification" culture. We want to make the big deal, fast, and still leave in time to catch our flight.

The thing is, most huge negotiation deals don't work that way. They often take months and months of discussion to reach a both-win end result.

However , there appears to be a focus on urgency in negotiation. The best negotiators are typically described because they make the number and they make the deadline.

Yet, the reality is, cut off dates are debatable. And pretty rarely will a deal fall apart because terms were not finalized in a predetermined quantity of time.

There are specific marks which separate good negotiators from bad ones. You may be interested in my findings from a study I did a couple of years ago, where I read the last concession patterns of people negotiating under a cut off point.

In early studies at the University of Southern California, my research showed a large disparity between the final concession patterns of people that were mathematically identified as winners and losers in the test groups. The losers gave up to 2 times as much as the winners did. From the start, they were also certain to give in sooner, and to give larger concessions immediately.

A good negotiator must ask:

- Is this deadline working for me or against me?
- Am I able to make this cut off point elastic?
- Have I accepted the other party's cut-off point as absolute?

Are cut offs necessary?? Absolutely!? Are they negotiable?? Absolutely!? Are some organizational cut offs padded?? You know it!? Would it be a shame to arrange a poor agreement because of a fake or debatable cut-off point?

Don't panic at deadlines!




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