Welcome to part one of our negotiations book, and today we're going to be looking at the basics,
just beginning up; what is negotiation? So, let's go ahead and hit our vocabulary for
this part, part number one. These are of course, our key vocabulary words related
to the basic ideas introduced in this chapter. And so, let's begin with some of
these. Agreement; Of course, agreement meaning to come to an agreement, to agree on
something especially between the two parties that are involved in the
negotiations. Argument; argument of course is when you argue with someone. Here,
we're using it as a noun, they are having an argument and it's important to
remember that an argument is not the same as a negotiation,
although we often do get those confused they should not be at all the same.
At least, this is often used in negotiation and especially when you're
trying to make a point that, at least I must get something, at least the minimum
I need to get or the minimum I need to give. So, it can be either way at least.
Bottom line is related to this idea of at least, bottom line being you cannot go
below this, so usually bottom line is used with an offer and usually the price is
involved somehow, so if you say my bottom line is ten dollars,
it means I cannot go further below ten dollars. But, also could be the opposite
direction, if you're a seller or buyer depending on the situation.
Bottom line; it can also be used for the whole package,
this is the last offer I can make, its my bottom line, this quality, this quantity,
and this price altogether is my bottom line that's possible.
Usually, it's used just with price though.
Compromise; compromise means you give something up in order to get something,
or you give something up now in order to maybe have a good relationship for later.
Usually, we can use this between two or more parties and all sides compromise. If
one side compromises and the other side does not compromise, that's not so much a
compromise as giving up or just surrendering. But, even then we usually
think well, I'll compromise now because I'll get something later, I'll give
something up now so that I can have a good relationship with the other side
later. Count on; count on is a way in English just to say I'm sure this is
going to happen and usually we use this to emphasize that you can trust me. You
can count on me,
you can count on this being the best offer, you can count on our quality. So, it is
really important when you're beginning your negotiation, when you're talking
with the other side to kind of give them a feeling that they can count on you.
Disagreement; of course a disagreement is something that we have when we have an
argument, but it's also something we have when we have different opinions about a
negotiation position. So, a disagreement is just a difference between the two
groups, those differences may be very objective like money, or they may be very
subjective like feelings. Flexible, of course when we have a negotiation we
often think about being flexible, and flexible here means that you can change
your position and often we use this word negotiation to ask the other side to
please be flexible. Could you please be more flexible? We often use it that way,
I'm being very flexible,
why don't you be flexible? Meaning you can change your position. Goal, of course
goal meaning what is it you want to get out of the negotiation, this is very very
important for us to understand in our negotiation class. And we set a goal that
is what is it we
want to get, what is the main thing we want, of course you can have many goals
or just one goal. In the middle; in the middle now, in the middle a little bit
like this idea of giving something up or compromising, in the middle means can we
split something so that we do the deal but it's in the middle. You want five
dollars,
I want ten dollars, can we do something like 7.50, can we go in the middle? So, in
the middle meaning can we split the difference between us. Inflexible;
inflexible meaning no flexibility, now inflexible like the word flexible is the
opposite, right? In this case, we're saying someone is inflexible and usually you
would not say this about yourself, you would say this about the other side you
are being inflexible, you are being inflexible meaning you're not flexible,
you're not giving up anything in this negotiation. So, usually this word is a
way to show the other side is not being helpful or not changing. Issue, now when
we talk about issue, what we're talking about are different points in negotiation
and we're going to call those issues. So, each issue is one part of the
negotiation that may be related to the goal we have. So, it may be price, it
maybe quantity, it maybe shipping, it could be many things like that but each
one of the issues is something we need to think about carefully. So, issues are the kind of
topics or the points, I want to raise three issues in this negotiation,
there are three issues that I do not agree with, that the way you use that.
Let's look at some more, here a nice little phrase, make everyone happy; make
everyone happy, now first we often hear about this, when we think about this idea,
win-win make everyone happy.
So, negotiation of course we often use this when we are speaking, because it
encourages the other side to believe that we're trying to be cooperative.
I just want to make everyone happy, I just want to make everyone happy,
I want to compromise so maybe you can compromise to, that's the way you use
that phrase. Of course, it's a very positive phrase, now is it true? It may
not be true,
you may say it but it's not really true that you're compromising, but it is often
used to give this idea that I'm trying to give something up ,so you should give
up something also. Negotiation, of course is the act of negotiating or in this
case we're just very basic, negotiation is a way to come to an agreement so that
we can agree that all our sides going to be happy doesn't make everyone happy,
maybe? Maybe not?
That's totally a different question, but a negotiation means that you have two
sides that have differences that they cannot agree on,
therefore they must go and negotiate and the thing, that thing is called a
negotiation. A solution; so here another noun, a solution meaning we find an answer
to the problem. Of course, here the problem is the difference between the
two sides and we're going to solve that difference by coming up with a
negotiation, and the negotiation will conclude. Maybe it'll make everyone happy,
maybe not? But it's a solution, a way to solve the problem. We can solve the
problem by changing prices, changing shipping, change in quantity or maybe
sometimes we just solve the problem in a totally different way, such as saying
well, I agree with you this time but next time, I hope you'll give me better
consideration or give me something special.
Strategy; Okay, so strategy is often easy to get confused with another word called
tactics, strategy is kind of your overall plan,
it's your big plan, the big idea, the big thing you're gonna follow. Now, the thing
with the strategy and negotiation is: that we do need to have strategies but
because strategies are kind of a big plan, an overall plan of how to do
something, but a negotiation has many small points, right? You talk to someone,
you're talking about price, you're talking about quantity, you're talking about quality. At any
one time those things can change, therefore you need to step back and
think that my strategy needs to change, or kind of stay the same, so strategy
is not super specific, it's more of an overall plan without the details whereas
tactics are much more the details which will learn about later. The next phrase
is often use, this is really a common phrase that many people like to use,
that is to be honest, so when you're speaking in negotiation, say well to be honest this
is our best quality and it's a way to emphasize that I cannot give you anymore,
it's already my bottom line, to be honest that's all I can give you, to be
honest our price is higher than the others, but our quality is better so you
can use to be honest in many ways like this but it's a way to help the other
side feel comfortable, it's a way for you to encourage the other side to
trust you.
Does that mean you really have to be honest?
Well, of course not it doesn't mean you're really being honest and often if
you hear the other side saying to be honest, maybe you should, maybe not trust
them so much.
Okay, that is the vocabulary for part one which is: what is negotiation?