Have you ever made plans to meet a friend, only to find that the meeting never takes place?
“Where were you? You were supposed to meet me last night!”
“No, we discussed it, but you never called back to confirm it.”
“But I thought we had agreed to meet. I didn’t think we needed to reconfirm.”
It seemed like a simple enough plan at the time, but the two of you had different understandings.
Agreements don’t implement themselves. People implement agreements. And people sometimes misunderstand, forget, or fail to follow through.
Fast Fact
Any written contract should make clear the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘where’, and ‘how’ of the agreement. If there is only an oral agreement, your notes or memos should reflect the parties’ understanding. Follow up to make sure both parties are doing what they agreed to do.
Remember the two sisters who squabbled over the orange? They eventually discovered that one wanted to squeeze out the juice, while the other
wanted to grate the rind to make a cake. The solution sounds simple enough in theory, but it may not be so simple to execute. Will the thirsty one squeeze out the juice first, and give her sister a messy peel afterwards? Or will the baker grate the rind first, and give her sister a nearly naked and hard to squeeze fruit? When do they each plan on using the parts they need? While they may think their problem was solved, their troubles may not be over yet!
I mentioned earlier that it is wise to draft an agreement before you begin negotiating. At the very least, ask yourself: what will the final agreement look like? Continue to think about this over the course of the negotiations. Ask yourself:
What steps must be taken
• ? By whom? By when?
What possible obstacles might arise
• ? Potential misunderstandings?
How might you avoid them?
How can you help your counterpart ‘sell’ the agreement to his •
constituents?
How will the agreement be monitored
• ?
At the end of the formal negotiation, after the final handshake, you will want to celebrate and stop thinking about all the details of the agreement. As time goes by, these details become a blur. You move on to other projects. You assume the deal will happen as planned.
To avoid problems later, make sure the final agreement provides detailed answers to the questions above. At the very least, assign the follow- up work to a particular person who will be held accountable, such as your personal assistant. Provide a clear framework for implementing the agreement.
Nibbles
A nibble is a last-minute attempt by one party to grab an extra concession from his counterpart. For example, a car buyer might ask the salesman to throw in a set of new floor mats, or a home buyer might ask the seller to include certain appliances not already included in the contract.
A nibble is a consciously-employed tactic, not the afterthought it seems to be. The nibbler knows the other party may be feeling generous while basking in the afterglow of a successful negotiation, and he tries to take advantage of this goodwill. Or perhaps the party being nibbled may fear the deal will fall through if he doesn’t agree to this relatively minor request. Not wishing to appear petty, he agrees.
Now that we’ve spent the entire morning negotiating the price of this pencil, how about throwing in a
A nibble is especially effective after the other party has invested substantial time, effort or mental energy in the negotiation. However, your counterpart will probably resent it. She may feel that you are greedy or you are not negotiating in good faith.
Like all tactics, there is also a counter-tactic to the nibble. In fact, there are several. Let’s look at them here:
First, you might make it contingent. A nibble is a request for a concession, •
and we do not like to make unilateral concessions. Defend against the nibble by saying, “I might be able to give you that, if you can give me this.”
You can defer to higher authority. “I’d love to give you those floor mats, •
but my manager would never agree to it.”
If you are in a business where you get the same kind of nibble all the •
time, put a price on it. “Let’s see, according to our standard price list, I can give you that set of new floor mats for only $189. Shall I add that to the purchase order?” People can say anything, but a written price list is the type of authority people don’t usually argue with.
You can appeal to fairness. “Come on now, I’ve already given you •
such a good deal. I really can’t give any more.”
You can let the nibbler know you’re onto his game. “Hey, that was a •
pretty good nibble!” The nibble is designed to seem casual and not look like a tactic. The tactic doesn’t work when the veil is stripped off. Be very careful with this — you don’t want to cause the nibbler to lose face when exposing him. Unless you know the person well, consider using one of the other four defences above.