Four Ingredients in Effective Negotiation
Commitment
Commitment to the negotiation process is required. This applies to negotiation as an overall process. It also applies specifically to a particular negotiation in hand. A half-hearted approach can never be effective in negotiation. There must be a serious commitment to achieving the result you want. If you are serious then you will be taken seriously; if you are casual then you will be taken casually.
In my experience, most business people do not have true commitment to the negotiation process. What typically happens is that negotiation gets the odd few moments, the remnants of our time. To be effective we need to settle the issue that negotiation is going to require predetermined amounts of time and resource.
Case Study 案例学习
A party of businessmen were eating at an Indian restaurant. During the process of ordering, one person said, "Let"s ask for a special deal before we order and try to get a good selection for ￡10 each." The leader of the party was unsure. Essentially, he was uncomfortable with the suggestion, so a vague proposal was made, something like "We would like 10 per cent discount, please." There was no commitment in the request and the waiter said nothing. Nothing was agreed.
The approach was treated casually because that"s exactly what it was. When the bill was presented at the end, there was no discount. When pressed, the waiter simply said that the manager was away and he had no authority to give a discount. The meal cost nearly ￡20 per head. It cost us all because there was no commitment to the negotiation. It was treated hopefully, casually, and therefore without authority.
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--文章注释--
overall process 整个过程 specifically adv.特定地，具体地
half-hearted adj. 三心二意的 remnant n.剩余，残余，边角料
settle a issue 达成一个根本观点 predetermine v.先决，预先决定
vague adj. 含糊的，不明确的
