Indore (Madhya Pradesh): In negotiations one should try to understand and solve their counterpart’s problem in order to solve their own problem.
An approach that ‘your problem is your problem’ and I have nothing to do about it rarely works in negotiation, said Kamal Jain, professor, mentor dean (academic), IIM Raipur while addressing a programme at Brilliant Convention Centre on Friday.
It was organised by Indore Management Association and the subject of the programme was ‘Win-Win Negotiation for Business Excellence.’
The session on ‘Negotiation for Business Excellence’ provided the participants with several practical tips on how to emerge as a winner in negotiation using the principle of win-win. Using examples, illustrations, anecdotes, stories, and clips from Bollywood movies he explained the intricacies of negotiation in a very lucid manner.
To understand the other party’s problem, a negotiator not only asks his and her counterpart what they need but also tries to find out why he and she needs it. In many negotiation situations, you may discover that you can actually solve the other side’s problem without any additional cost and time and this helps the negotiating party to accept your proposal.
Expert negotiators do not take the fixed size of the pie, they keep on exploring how to expand the size of the pie which ultimately becomes the source of win-win negotiation.
The technique is known as integrative negotiation. Prof Jain emphasised the fact that the objective of a negotiator should not be to force the other side to accept their conditions by deceptive behavior, aggression, use of force and power or tactfully making someone or a party (in negotiation) to feel uncomfortable. Threats rarely advance the cause of a negotiator, as a person influenced by threat has a feeling of loss and will often look for an opportunity to retaliate. A threatened seller may take revenge later by overcharging for any additional service or in case the buyer needs some specification changes. Force might help one to get a yes from the other party but it can never inspire others to sincerely and faithfully carry out those agreements, where both parties need to work together for the success of the deal.
Finally, he explained the role of framing in negotiation. For example, saying that 90% of customers are satisfied with our service will not create a similar kind of feeling if you say 9 out of 10 customers are satisfied with our service.
Real numbers tend to have a much stronger impact on people.
