SAB Negotiation Group - Effective Negotiation Training Overview

If you're worried that you're leaving a lot on the table during your negotiations, you're not alone.

Research done by Harvard and Northwestern shows that in 95% of negotiations, we get suboptimal outcomes for one or both parties, largely because the parties that are involved in the negotiation are not effectively using negotiation strategies, tactics, and techniques that have been proven to maximize value for one or both sides.

My name is Shahzad.

I'm the founder and managing partner here at the SAB Negotiation Group, and I'm just going to take a few minutes of your time to talk about how you want to think about building a negotiation training program that is customized for you and your team's specific needs.

So I'm going to walk you through something we call the negotiator's diamond.

The negotiator's diamond is a negotiation framework that we've built over the last 30 years, starting from our time when we used to teach at Harvard's Program on Negotiation all the way to today.

These are the same negotiation strategies, tools and techniques that we use in our negotiation consulting practice.

We've worked in negotiations all over the world.

Hundreds of billions of dollars.

You name the context, we've probably worked on it.

So let's walk you through it.

So the way to think about the negotiator's diamond is to split it across the horizontal axis and the vertical axis.

So the horizontal axis is what we call negotiation strategy, which is to say, what are all the things that I want you to be thinking about before the conversation even starts, both in terms of understanding what's important to you, but also what's important to the other side and how to communicate ideas and proposals so they want to say yes to you.

The vertical axis is what we call pressure points.

Pressure points are the points that we push on after the conversation has already started, where we're trying to get them to say yes to us by using very specific negotiation tactics and techniques that are designed to move the other side in our direction.

Right.

Get them more likely to say yes to us.

So let's walk through these one at a time.

Let's start by talking about negotiation strategy from our perspective.

In other words, how do we maximize value for ourselves?

Now, it turns out negotiation strategy matters just as much whether or not you're really experienced or not experienced at all.

The challenge with having a lot of experience is we tend to fall into this almost this trap of assuming that we can anticipate all the things that might happen in a negotiation that we're about to engage in.

But then what happens is if we get surprised, then we get caught on our back foot because we didn't properly think through all the different things from a negotiation strategy perspective.

And the same thing is true, of course, if you have less experience, if you have less experience, almost by definition, you're less likely to be, aware of all the things that could happen because you haven't seen it before.

And so you definitely want to make sure you thought through all the negotiation strategy pieces that, that might emerge, over the course of a negotiation.

The second thing that I want you to think about from a negotiation strategy perspective is I want you to think about both the science of negotiation strategy and the art of negotiation strategy.

So when I talk about the science of negotiation strategy, I'm really talking about the quantitative elements, the kinds of things that you can wrap your head around numerically because they're so clear in terms of the outcome, right?

So that includes things like, you know, how are we allocating things like money and time and risk, things like that.

And understanding that a lot of my power comes from understanding how the quantitative elements are being interpretated, interpreted rather from a negotiation perspective by the other side, right?

So in particular, this concept called batna, which is if I have a strong, opportunity to work with somebody else outside of this negotiation, that actually gives me more power in the negotiation because I less need the other side.

And the same is true, of course, going the other way, right?

So understanding the scientific elements of a negotiation strategy are the first thing that we want your team to be able to understand.

The second side of negotiation strategy is what we might call the art of negotiation strategy, which is what are all the qualitative, nonverbal elements that are so important in determining whether or not somebody wants to say yes to us.

It turns out people are much more likely to say yes to us if they feel like they want to say yes to us, as opposed to if they think they should say yes to us.

That pathos, that emotional part of a negotiation strategy, is actually a really important part of getting the other side to say yes to your proposals.

So it turns out whether or not somebody is more likely to say yes to you is a function of whether or not they trust you and whether or not they trust you and is a function of their perception of how authentic they think you are being.

So the challenge for you as you negotiate as part of a team is that if you know somebody on your team that's a really good negotiator and you try to do the same things that they do and say the same things that they say, what's going to happen is you're not going to get the same outcomes that they get because you are trying to act like somebody that you are not.

In other words, you, you are being inauthentic.

And the other side will be able to notice that.

And because they sense that inauthenticity, even though you're saying and doing the same thing as one of your expert negotiators, you're not going to get the same outcomes.

So part of what we want to be able to do in our negotiation training programs is we want to build a negotiation training program that gives you the opportunity to use and practice the science and art of negotiation strategy in negotiation scenarios that we will build for you from scratch.

So, and I'll talk about this more in a few minutes, that look and feel and sound like the kinds of negotiations you're dealing with on a day to day basis.

Right?

Because your negotiation technique will only be successful if the other side thinks you're being authentic, which means you have to be able to wear it in the context of your personality and act like you would normally act, not like how somebody else might act.

Now let's move to the second part of negotiation strategy, which is the closest thing to a magic wand that I can give you in negotiation training.

So it turns out people are looking for different things to be persuaded by, depending on their persuasion profile.

Broadly speaking, there are three categories that people tend to fall into.

People that are focused on implementation, what we call implementers, people that are dominated by their intellectual faculty, called intellectuals or thinkers, and people that, make decisions based on their experience, but make them very quickly, what we call instinctives.

So, you know, I'm going to give you a very brief summary now, but in negotiation training, we will walk you through the entire program or the entire paradigm, really, and how to think about it.

But in essence, what an implementer is looking for is they're looking for past success in how you've implemented or worked with other people as a proxy for your likely future success.

So an implementer is retrospective and intellectual says that makes no sense at all.

Why are we talking about the past?

What I want to be focused on is the future.

Why is this the best way for us to get the best future positive outcomes?

So, whereas an implementer is retrospective and intellectual is prospective.

And then we've got what we call instinctive.

So instinctive say it's not about the past or the future, it's about the present.

It's what's the benefit to me today of saying yes to you right now?

And the benefit of this pro profiling system is that you, from a negotiation strategy perspective, should have arguments ready to go for all three profiles.

And what you will find is when you walk into a conversation and let's say you roll out intellectual conversations, that conversation is not getting anywhere as soon as you make that switch to the profile that the other side actually has.

So let's say you're initially thinking it's intellectual and you're wrong, and you move to making implementer arguments, and now you've got that right, and a negotiation that was stuck in the mud will immediately start to take off.

It'll give you way more control over a negotiation than you've ever had in the past.

It is the single most powerful set of tools that we can give you, and it will be transformative.

Now let's move on to talking about negotiation tactics and techniques.

All right, so if negotiation strategy is all the things that you need to be thinking about and prepared for before the negotiation starts, negotiation tactics and techniques are all the things that you would use after the negotiation starts to keep bringing that conversation back to a point where you have maximum influence over each of the next steps.

So the way I would like you to think about that is to break it into what we call pressure points.

So a pressure point is when you and I are negotiating, I'm pushing on a pressure point to try to get you to say yes to me.

And there are basically two types of pressure points.

There are negative pressure points and there are positive pressure points.

So a negative pressure point is where I'm saying to you, you have to say yes to me.

Because if you don't, there's a consequence, there is a price to pay for saying no to me.

Right?

So there are examples where that makes sense.

So let's say you're in the buy side of the conversation, and you've got multiple vendors or suppliers that you can talk to who can all give you the same thing.

In that case, you can say to somebody, I want to work with you.

I like you, but if I don't get better terms, I'm going to go work with somebody else.

Right?

So that negative pressure point in that case is loss of business.

Now, you know, it turns out most people don't like to be talked to in that way.

So where we tend to spend a little bit more of our time, especially if you're on the sell side of the conversation, is on what we call positive pressure points.

Right.

So a positive pressure point is me presenting ideas or proposals or information to you in a way that makes you want to say yes to me, not because you're worried about the consequences of no, but rather because I've articulated the benefits of yes in a way that makes you want to say yes to me.

Right.

So that has everything to do with the order that I talk about issues.

Do I talk what's important to you first or what's important to me first?

How do I use silence?

So it turns out silence is a super powerful tool if you know how to use it and when to use it, when not to use it.

and even where you have a negotiation.

Right.

So it turns out the physical location that you're in influences whether or not somebody is going to say yes to you.

So we'll walk you through all of that and a whole lot more in our negotiation tactics and techniques section.

Or positive pressure points with the idea that we want to be able to maximize the control that you have over the conversation and make it so they are more likely to want to say yes to your form of the proposal.

Now, let's talk about a few other things that we think you really should know.

All right, so the first thing that I want to talk about more in terms of the mechanics and structure of what a negotiation training program looks like, if it's done really well, is that whether you work with us or somebody else, you must, you absolutely must insist on customization.

It.

You know, 80% of our workshops are what we call experiential, meaning you're not listening to me or one of my colleagues lecture the whole time.

What you're doing is you're getting a chance to take these strategies, these tools and these techniques.

And we're going to give you lots of opportunities to practice using these strategies and techniques in negotiation scenarios and simulations that we will build for you, for your organization from scratch.

If this is going to be effective, it needs to look and feel and sound like the kinds of negotiations that your team deals with all day, every day.

Right?

Because that's how that practice is going to be valuable.

If the negotiation scenarios and simulations in the workshop feel realistic, your team is much more likely to use the tools after the workshop is over when those negotiations are real.

Right.

And that's ultimately the whole point of doing a negotiation training program anyway, is just to make sure that they're actually using the tools when the conversations are real.

Again, that's where you're going to get the value.

Right?

And so the way we do customization at SAB is we maximize the effort on our side and we try to minimize the effort on your side.

Right?

So we have a needs analysis where we gather information from you on the front end, and then the large majority of the customization happens on our side where we're gonna customize the content, we'll customize the examples, the scenarios, the solutions, all of it.

Soup to Nuts is gonna be built around your organization, your team's skill sets, your team's needs, and the kinds of organization dynamics and scenarios that you want to get it better at.

And then after the workshop is over, we also want to make sure that we.

We've given you the tools to be able to continue supporting your team to use the skills and techniques after the workshop is over.

So we're going to give you lots of templates, planners that you can continue to use after the workshop is over to make sure that you continue to get outcomes.

All right, so the last thing that I'll talk about in terms of the components of an effective negotiation training workshop is that an effective negotiation training workshop does not stop at the end of the workshop.

We know that.

Where you really create values after the workshop is over.

But sometimes it can be a little bit stressful using new strategies and techniques that you haven't used before in negotiations that actually mean a lot.

That's why at the end of every workshop, you will get our direct email address and our cell phone number with an invitation to give us a call, drop us a note and say, hey, I'd love to get a little bit of advice on a negotiation that I've got coming up.

Right?

Any conversation or any interaction that's 60 minutes or less is entirely free.

You can call us every day for the rest of your life.

There's no expiration date on that.

And the reason we do that is we know how important it is for you to get these negotiations right, and we want to make sure that we're being good partners and are helping you to create So hopefully that was a helpful overview about how to think about what an effective negotiation skills training workshop might look like for you or your organization.

If there's anything else that you think that we can do to be helpful, please feel free to give us a call if you need negotiation training for your team.

If you need negotiation training as an individual, if you need us to come in as consultants on a big negotiation that you've got coming up, please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-986-9670.

You're also welcome to drop us an email at info at sabonline.

Com.

We'll get back to you, if not within minutes, certainly within a day.

we love this stuff.

We do this all day, every day.

We're always happy to help.

Thanks so much.