商务英语谈判技巧

Business Negotiation Skills in English 商务英语谈判技巧 商务英语谈判技巧 Phases of Negotiation According to Robert Maddux author of Successful Negotiation negotiation is the process we use to satisfy our needs when someone else controls what we want In business negotiations the two parties endeavor to obtain their business goals through bargaining with their counterparts Business negotiations are conducted in the following four phases the preparation phase opening phase bargaining phase and closing phase Preparation phase 1 Choosing your team The negotiation team should include members in the following areas Commercial responsible for the negotiation on price delivery terms and commercial policy of risk taking Technical responsible for specifications programs and methods of work Financial terms of payment credit insurance and financial guarantees Legal contract documents terms and conditions of contract insurance and legal interpretation Interpreter familiar with the foreign language needed as well as the negotiation related knowledge and having certain communication skills The most important role in the team is the chief negotiator CN who is supposed to possess the following qualities sociability shrewdness adaptability patience endurance Other than that extensive knowledge clear oral expression as well as strong leadership are also important for a CN 2 Gathering and analyzing information Valuable information covers the areas in political legal as well as business system market research financial policies infrastructure and logistics The knowledge on the counterpart is also necessary With the information at hand it is time do a feasibility study to adjust our goals to be achieved 3 The negotiation plan The plan defines the negotiating objectives sets the minimum acceptable level for each term and states the time control initial strategy the tactics and others including the location personnel and facilities needed A well designed plan allows more flexibility in different situations and guides the negotiators through the negotiation process without getting off track The opening phase It is common that the seller submits proposals Then the buyer confronts with three options outright acceptance outright rejection and qualified rejection the last of which is usually the most choice Once the positions and objectives of both parties are revealed the negotiators begin to reflect both on the loss they will suffer if they would concede and on the loss they will receive if they would refuse to concede The bargaining phase At this stage concessions are made and advantages are gained thus an agreement is to be achieved Necessarily the team should make a reappraisal of the other party s concession factor If the other party concedes more faster than expected their real concession factor is greater Adversely if the other party concedes less slower than expected they are perhaps correct in estimation or they are simply bluffing As the negotiation moves to the stage of identifying particular concession exchanges the negotiators will expect to receive signals which indicate the genuine positions The closing phase Once the seller and the buyer reach an agreement it is time to draw up the contract Typically one party prepares the contract listing the agreed upon clauses The other party makes amendments to the wording to make them more closely reflect the agreement Negotiation Strategies and Tactics Negotiation strategies and tactics are crucial to business negotiation Generally speaking strategy may be defined as the overall plan used to gain advantage over the opponent or achieve some end Tactics may be defined as the means by which the strategic objective is achieved Once a strategy has been chosen tactics must be devised to assure that the goals are achieved Strategies There are two basic strategies offensive and defensive Offensive strategies are used to take initiative while the defensive ones are to observe and wait until opportunities come and necessary measures be taken Usually the party with the greatest sense of need will make the initial contact However a suitable strategy will only emerge only after the following guidelines are considered What is our main goal in the target market What are the issues to be negotiated What level of agenda control can I or we expect Have we analyzed the personal information of our counterparts or their negotiation history Have we analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of both sides What is our opening offer and what is the bottom line Have we collected enough evidence Have we worked out the alternatives for the solution Can we afford to say No What are the alternatives to a completed negotiation Tactics There are two types of tactics commonly used in the negotiation process offensive and defensive Offensive Tactics Probe for Insight Ask value free informational questions to find out what the other party s underlying needs are Avoid judgmental styles of questioning even though your first instinct is to use them How you word these questions will help or hinder you in obtaining responses For example if you say How did you ever think you could get that objective you will simply put the other party on the defensive But if you say I m not sure I understand why that objective is so important to you Can you explain your concerns You are far more likely to obtain useful information about the other party s underlying concerns Feign a blow to the east and attack in the west One party will over emphasize the apparent importance to securing a particular point when their real objective is the exact opposite Some negotiators are usually suspicious of any proposal made by their counterparts Take Tit for tat It s an effective tactic to make your counterpart give up By saying No clearly and firmly you can make an impression that you have made enough concession and will withdraw no longer Usually the hard shell approach pushes the deal forward and fools the opponent into making concessions and closing the deal Control the written record Seize the opportunity to get the word in by volunteering to prepare the minutes of the meeting the draft of the report or the summary of the discussion Even when a written report isn t required you can still take it upon yourself to play this role by simply writing a follow up letter or e mail to the other party For example if you ve just had a telephone discussion with a supplier follow it up with a quick e mail stating Nice to speak with you today Here s a quick note to help me remember what we decided in our phone conversation Unless they refuse the written version they ve tacitly accepted it By the way this is a great tactic for dealing with difficult bosses So long as the written follow up is polite and respectful your boss will probably let you get away with documenting things like your job assignments and performance feedback that you have an interest in securing Then you don t have to say later on But I thought you said You and your boss will know what was said Develop alternatives It s so easy to develop alternatives but most negotiators never do which means you can gain a significant advantage by specializing in this simple tactic For example suppose you call a resort hotel to make a reservation for a conference that requires you to stay for two nights over a weekend only to find that the hotel s policy requires a three night stay You could grin and bear it paying for the extra night you don t need Many guests do that s why the resort persists in the policy But why not develop alternatives First ask to speak to a supervisor who presumably would have the authority to negotiate and then ask her him politely to give you the names and numbers of other hotels nearby in case you can t get the reservation you want This innocent question followed by a momentary pause in which you write down the numbers puts you in a better opening position by letting the point sink in that you can very well take your business elsewhere And it takes only a moment and no additional calls since the information about alternatives is solicited from the other party When the dust settles you should get what you want an exception to the policy because you have invoked the threat of exercising your alternatives Nibbling Nibbling is among the most popular of negotiation tactics The actual strategy is to continue the negotiations after the deal is supposedly done This tactic is most effective when a great deal of time has been spend finalizing the negotiation and the other party has invested a great deal of time into it For instance if you are buying a piece of property after the deal is finalized you may ask for other accommodations that were not originally part of the plan for the property that you purchased This can be a fairly risky tactic although a large majority of individuals will not renege on the deal after so much time has been put into it If you choose to try the nibbling technique you may not want to ask for too much as this can break down the entire process Defensive tactics Silence is golden You can t give anything away if you don t talk In fact how much you give away is generally proportional to how much you talk That means the one who talks the most loses So why is it so hard to shut and listen in a negotiation It isn t hard for everybody Many Japanese negotiators are comfortable with long periods of silence a cultural difference that gives them a natural edge over more talkative Americans Let s think quietly about that for a minute Wait one minute before moving on Okay We re back Did you squirm a little while we were sitting here silently Were you tempted to fill the void Most people are Leave a thoughtful gap in the conversation and you might simply hear some useful information about their concerns Whatever you hear it is likely to help you understand the other party and design your next move And even if you hear nothing of value you can still have the satisfaction of knowing that by being quiet you gave away nothing of value Help the other party save face If the other party made a commitment that it now needs to abandon it is usually an astute move on your part to help them save face This is where you will need to be less competitive than you might expect If you keep the pressure on them they are likely to either lock in to their unreasonable position and refuse to budge or they will feel so embarrassed that they may plot to get even with you later Instead we recommend that you help them save face You might allow them to change their offer find a way for them to be flexible without looking foolish say that this is being done for the greater good or make some other generous and supportive statement If constituencies are involved you might actively compliment the other party so that their constituency can overhear After you Let s compromise How many times has someone said those famous words as an invitation to strike a quick simple deal when a conflict bogs things down By saying Let s compromise you immediately signal your willingness to expedite the resolution of the problem But don t stop there In the after you tactic you say Let s compromise What do you think is fair This invites the other party to make the first concession And it sets the bottom limit on what you ll have to give up It also gives you the opportunity to simply say so if their offer is clearly more than twice as low as your target If so politely say something like Maybe compromising isn t such a good idea after all Postpone the compromise treating the first round as a trial balloon Then try to initiate a compromise later on with a more favorable opening using the same after you tactic But most likely the other party s opening offer will be reasonable and you can start bargaining from there If they want a compromise too they will make a reasonable or even generous opening offer By letting them go first you often get a more favorable outcome than if you had made the first offer Buying time with accommodation Will Rogers once said that Diplomacy is the art of saying Nice doggie until you can find a rock Sometimes you feel very strongly about the outcome but haven t the strength to press for a satisfactory settlement through a Competitive Compromising or Collaborative negotiating style at the moment Maybe you lack support because you haven t been able to get in touch with your management or some other powerful constituency Perhaps you are waiting for information funding or other resources to arrive Whatever the problem your hands are tied behind your back In which case you can use an accommodating for now approach to delay the negotiation The way to use this tactic is to make it clear that while you don t agree you will go along with the other party for now and discuss it again later on Use wording like for now and until I have time to look into it or it s okay for now but I m not satisfied with it and we will have to go into it later Such phrasing makes it clear that you are using the accommodating for now tactic and have reserved the right to negotiate later on To conclude different strategies and tactics are employed to serve different situations which are subject to change constantly thus flexibility and adaptability in negotiation is advisable Of course there are certainly other tactics involved which can be drawn from the real negotiation practice Practice 1 Read the following two simulated negotiation and analyze what negotiation tactics are employed by the Party B A Negotiation on Price A Perhaps we could turn to the question of price today As I said earlier in our discussions we are willing to place a trial order of one shipload say 25 000 30 000 tons Could I have your lowest quotation please B Yes I d be delighted but before we discuss price I d like to say a few words about the market situation A Please do B Soybeans in Europe enjoy an increasing demand The prices have advanced over 10 during the last 12 months The market is firm with an upward trend A You could be right but if you take a closer look at the international market situation you ll find that the supply of soybean is more than enough to meet the demand The main producing countries like the United States have increased their production drastically At the moment there are more soybeans around than they can find the market for It is estimated that the market will continue to be weak B Well you will appreciate that the European market is slightly different from that of the United States A Yes but we must also bear in mind the fact that all of us are operating in a highly competitive global market in which we have been forced to cut our prices from time to time to win business B Well that s true A Now Mr B if your price compares favorably with those of other suppliers I have good reason to believe that we could place regular orders with you B Thank you Mr A as we are anxious to do business with you we are prepared to give you a special first order price which is U S 508 per ton FOB A Thank you for the offer Unfortunately your price appears to be on the high side I d like to suggest that you could perhaps make some reduction that would help to introduce your product into our market B I m sorry to hear that you find our price to high As a matter of fact the quoted price leaves us with only a small profit margin If it were not for the large orders we are anticipating we could not have quoted even at that price A I think I should be quite frank with you The quotation we received this morning from a U S supplier is U S 500 per ton B Ah the Americans again The problem with us is that we have to import some raw materials from abroad which adds a great deal to our cost By comparison the Americans are in a more advantageous position They don t have to import the raw materials They have plenty of it in the States Considering the high production cost we don t fell that the price we quoted is all that expensive A I appreciate you position but we really can t afford to accept like that The South Korea soybean goes at U S 495 B I see what you mean Can you give us a counter offer A Yes of course We are willing to pay U S 500 per ton FOB for delivery with 4 weeks of order I hope you will be able to take advantage of this exceptional offer Please understand that we can t leave it open for more than 48 hours You may decide now or telephone your acceptance later B Did you say 500 A Precisely B Well I will have to consult my board I can t give my final word until I speak to them Can I use your telephone A Yes please do B It gives me great pleasure to tell you that we ve decided to accept your counter offer A Good I am sure you have made the right decision I am glad we ve struck the first deal and I look forward to many years of fruitful cooperation B So do I 2 A Negotiation on Delivery A Now we have settled the terms of payment Is it possible to effect shipment during September B I don t think we can A then when is earliest we can expect shipment B By the middle of October I think A It s too late you see November is the season for this commodity in our market and our customer s formalities are rather complicated B I understand A well the flow through the marketing channels and the red tape involved take at least a couple of weeks Thus after shipment it will be altogether four to five weeks before the goods can reach our retailers the goods must therefore be shipped before October or we won t be ready for the season B but our factories are fully committed for the third quarter In fact many of our clients are placing orders for delivery in the fourth quarter A Mr Li you certainly realize that time of delivery is a matter of great importance to us If we place our goods on the market at a time when all other importers have already sold their goods at profitable prices we shall lose out B I see your point However we have done more business this year than any of the previous years I am very sorry to say that we cannot advance the tim