The Elements of Negotiation

ELEMENT 29Division of Roles on the Team

A successful negotiation team spends more time preparing and works with an agenda. They are used to always summing up before they move from one discussion point to the next and they take joint notes on the board. There should be many breaks with the purpose of establishing within the group whether they are on the right track and agreeing on a joint attitude internally in the negotiation delegations.

This way of cooperating can seem stiff and formal to many people, but you need such discipline before you can let go and improvise without entirely losing control of the negotiation.

The traditional division of roles with the manager as the negotiation leader and the different experts in charge of each their part functions poorly. For example, consider when a customer asks the supplier: “Is it possible to equip the data system with more functions that make day-and-night work possible?” Before the negotiation leader on the seller's side has had time to formulate the necessary questions about the customer's new needs, the systems specialist takes over: “We have already done that for another customer and their system works very well. We do not need to make new changes in order to equip your system with similar functions.” The sales manager saw an opportunity to sell and once again receive payment for the expertise built up, but in their eagerness to demonstrate how clever they are, the systems specialist has given it all away for free.

In order ...