Articles

When we think about negotiating, what usually springs to mind is two people sitting down together to discuss a contract or a settlement or a term sheet. Sometimes if we are far-seeing, or if we’ve taken negotiation training, we realize that the ability to collaborate also serves us well at home. So while we will say we negotiate in business, and sometimes recognize that we also do so at home,

One of the most difficult things we all have to do is to forgive someone who has done us harm. Whether it’s an investor who has swindled us; a boss who has taken credit for our work; a neighbour who has labeled our child “a bully”; a family member who has cut us out of the will, or a friend who has made a slighting remark, we all face the challenge of forgiving those who have trespassed against us.

Picture the scene: it’s late in your fiscal year and you’re in the final stages of negotiating a big sale. If you land this one, you will exceed your annual sales target by 25% and your bonus will double. No doubt about it – you want this one.

Then comes the bad news: to do the deal, the client wants a major concession that will erode the profitability of the transaction and set a bad precedent. You thought you had handled this objection earlier and put it aside, but you were wrong. What now?

In this article, I will share some advice that I hope will help address challenges like this.

You know the old notion, “That’s obvious, dummy! You’re wasting your breath.”

I’m not persuaded it’s as simple as that. In one of the consulting engagements I’m doing right now, this theme rings loud and clear in two ways.

I assume this title is self-explanatory for most of you reading this article. Moreover, my guess is it wouldn’t be too hard to agree with this statement.

I remember sitting through sleep-inducing “Economics 101″ lectures back in the first year of my undergraduate degree, listening to the professor describing consumers as “rational actors” and thinking, “yeah, right!”