Business Negotiation February 7, 2013

Eight More Practical Tips for Better Team Negotiation Results

In our previous post on team negotiations, we looked at eight practical tips to improve your team negotiation results. Here is the second set of eight tips.

1. Occasionally, a team member simply doesn’t like negotiating or resents wasting time on it. Get him or her off the team. Also don’t negotiate with anyone at your side who thinks negotiating is a belittling business. The signals he or she sends will adversely affect your bargaining style and raise the other parties’ expectations. Remember, there are lots of people who look down at negotiating. Many dislike the process. Others are afraid of it. Keep them off the team.
2. The power of a team is enhanced by planning together several times before the session. Don’t leave planning for the night before.
3. Never let your team be significantly outnumbered. Recognize that if the other party has ten members on their team, you better have at least three or more. If they field three people, you should field at least two.
4. Assign each team member as an observer of his or her own counterpart on the other side. Make them responsible for determining how their counterparts fit into the knowledge and decision-making structure of the other party.
5. Let one person on your team be the official note taker, observer, and listener. Have that person take copious notes while others do the talking. Share the official observer’s findings with the team during recess periods. Good notes are a source of bargaining power.
6. Caucus frequently. Give yourselves time to think. Formulate new plans as you learn more.
7. Prevent open conflicts between team members at the table. Encourage disagreement in the back room. The other party will pick up even the most subtle of team conflicts.
8. Conference and hotel rooms, as well as telephones, are sometimes “bugged.” If the stakes are high, assume this possibility exists and protect yourself.

With the sixteen tips we’ve shared between this post and our previous one, you should be well equipped to develop an effective and efficient team bargaining model so that you negotiate more successfully.