HBR Guide to Negotiating (HBR Guide Series)

Chapter 5

Connect in Advance

Agree on the process and who’s involved.

The final step in preparing for your negotiation is to actually connect with your counterpart. You’ll want to agree on the process, decide where and when the negotiation will take place, become familiar with the players in both parties, help your counterpart prepare, and set the right tone for the negotiation as a whole.

Agree on the Process

Before you tackle the substance, talk to your counterpart about how you want to negotiate. This will entail some sort of conversation in advance of the negotiation itself. Negotiating over the negotiation is important and often forgotten: People like to get down to business and skip advance discussion, but if you discover deep into the ...