SERVICES - NEGOTIATION PREPARATION

You can be more successful in your next negotiation by having us prepare you for it.

Here are just some of the questions you should have answered before embarking on any serious negotiation:

Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement

What is your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA)? What is the other side`s BATNA? How does the other side see its BATNA? How will each side’s BATNA impact the negotiation? At the end of the negotiation, what is a good deal? What is a bad deal? Apart from your BATNA, what are your goals for the negotiation? What do you expect will be the other side’s goals in the negotiation? How realistic are the goals of the parties?

Interests

What are your interests in the negotiation (what you need as opposed to your goals, what you may want or what you see as fair)? What are the other side`s interests? How common or opposed are these interests? Which interests are likely to create challenges? Which are likely to help the parties come to agreement?

Options

What are the settlement options? Which options are the other side likely to raise? What is your strategy for selling each of the options you like? What is your strategy for dealing with the options that the other side might raise in negotiation and that you do not like?

Objective Criteria

What objective criteria can you use during the negotiation to be more persuasive (example: in a sales negotiation you might want to rely on market value data)? What objective criteria is the other side likely to try to rely on during the negotiation? What is your strategy for using objective criteria during the negotiation? What is your strategy for dealing with any objective criteria the other side is likely to try to use?

Relationship

What sort of relationship do you want or need to have with the other negotiator(s) during the negotiation? If you have a relationship with the other side, where does it fit in? How important is the relationship? What do you want the relationship to be in the future? Can you use the relationship to your benefit during the negotiation? Will there be emotional baggage at the table? How will you deal with that? What is your strategy to deal with each of the relationship issues?

Communication

What is your communication strategy for the negotiation? What will your negotiation style or approach be during the negotiation? Who will talk when and what will they say? What are the challenges you expect during the negotiation and what is the strategy for dealing with each of these if and when they arise? What is your strategy for dealing with any difficult people you expect to have to deal with during the negotiation? What tactics do you expect the other side to try to use and how will you deal with these? If the negotiators are organised in teams, what are the strengths and weaknesses of each of the members of the team? What is the role of each of the persons on the team? How can you arrange your team to be as effective as it can be? What are the issues that will be discussed and what is the strategy on each of these? What are opening offers likely to look like? What are the second, third, fourth etc... offers likely to be?

Commitment

If you reach agreement what will that agreement look like? What do you need to do now to make sure that the deal can be finalised when the time comes (legal and practical considerations)? Will those at the table have the authority to commit? What impact will the authority or lack of authority of those at the table (or away from the table) have on the negotiation?

Please note that in the case of labour negotiations we only accept a retainer if we are asked to prepare both sides. We do this through a partnering structure that involves the use of two mediators working with the parties in joint and caucus sessions.

Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.

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