Negotiation

16 June

• Took too long to get something on the table. We don't want to be abrupt, but the sooner you get to work, the sooner you can start bringing up options. Budgeting your time is important-- you'll wish you had time late in the negotiation, when things are down to the wire.
• Be forward: you have to make this worthwhile to us. Give yourself time to negotiate-- that only happens after the opening offer. If you don't put out something concrete and specific, your expectations aren't known, and you'll be wasting time.
• You want to avoid being trapped in a money-only situation when things come down to the wire. That's just a who-blinks-first situation.

18 June

• There's a difference between negotiating and having confidence/ arguing with style, etc.
• Either side can always walk away, and so it's hard to get a result that's better than what a mediocre negotiator could get. That's the benefit we need to achieve for our client.
• The client relies on us for something they couldn't do themselves. And it's not easy; and that means we need to work at it.
• Many pitfalls at the table are predictable, and that means we can prepare for them. This includes pitfalls based on style/personality type: if you take control of them by preparing, you can still do a good job, regardless of whether you feel comfortable about it.
• Being articulate and making sense is really important. Because negotiations frequently deal with complex situations (i.e., multiple terms, high stakes, some stress), you really need to have the other side understand you. It can take time and it can create tension if the other side doesn't get the picture. It makes the other side more cautious, because they can't make a concession in exchange for something they don't understand. We don't want the other side being skeptical or reluctant.
• When the other side has to stop and think about what you're proposing, it undermines you a little bit. If you're trying to get a concession, the other side has to understand what they're getting in return. Note also that the other side may or may not want to admit what they don't know, and that they might even just have the wrong idea.
There was a time before the phrase "paradigm shift" entered the language, and it was a better, richer time for all of us.
• There's a euphamism for everything, but if you throw jargon around, you're introducing risk. Nobody is going to concede something they don't understand.
• This applies also to your selling of a proposal: why it's fair, why the other party shouldn't expect something better, why it's reasonable. The logic of it has to make sense. There's no third party referee who gives points for style: if what you say isn't persuasive, it doesn't matter how clever it is.
• It's also important to concede what you have to concede: no point arguing over black-letter stuff. Just argue over the weak/distinguishing points.
• But the less articulate you are, the more openings you give the other side to undermine the good stuff you've got. You want to preserve the strength of your ideas, and you'll get the most out of them if you present them well.
• We need to change people's minds: to convince them that their expectations were unrealistic.
• So think about where the points of risk might be: what are the parts that the other side might not understand, etc.
• Dealing with undertainty is another big point: it's a normal feature of negotiation (if not a defining ingredient): uncertainty about existing circumstances (disagreement about material facts), for example. Uncertainty with respect to future circumstances (how will the economy be a year from now; any time we negotiate something that requires performance in the future, you've got some uncertainty).
• Any time you're bargaining for something that will be done later, you have to ask: what if it doesn't happen? what can I do to increase the likelihood of it happening? what if circumstances change?
• Provide incentives to complete before the due date, for example. There's a difference between having a right to something and actually having the thing. In a lot of cases, non-performance can't be remedied by a lawsuit. We also want to put penalties in the contract for late performance. Give yourself protections beyond just the right to performance.
• Obviously you can't do this with every issue, but it's important to think in terms of what you can do, in the agreement itself, to protect your interests.
• There's also uncertainty about legal issues. You can override default rules, etc. Clauses, for example, that say what will happen if some element of the contract becomes unenforceable/illegal, etc.
• So, in real life, find out as much as you can about the things you don't know.
• Avoid naked promises: have a mechanism for putting teeth into promises. Don't expect people to take your word-- find a way to prove it to them.
• Think about benchmarks, especially in large projects, so you can find out about problems before they become critical.
• You can put in terms to mitigate risk in the future (triggers that adjust wages or interest rates, etc., to keep things manageable). You can anticipate at least some of the changes that might make the agreement unliveable, and deal with them then.
• I am Polonius negotiating vs. Cole