Bargaining for Advantage by G Richard Shell

Author:G Richard Shell [Shell, G Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101221372
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2010-12-15T06:00:00+00:00

Rapport Pitfalls: Over- or Underdoing It

To repeat: Establishing rapport will not and should not gain one side a significant bargaining advantage over the other. If you sense that your counterpart is trying to extract concessions from you on the basis of his or her initial success in establishing rapport, alarm bells should go off. You are being conned, not negotiated with. Armand Hammer did not pay less for his oil concession because he put his bid on sheepskin parchment, and Steve Ross did not get free parking from Kimmel because he expressed interest in Kimmel’s race horses.

Rather, both men used their knowledge about rapport to open a distinctively personal channel for communication so they could get their “deal message” across. The goal was to get the other party to think of them as unique people, not just faces coming to ask for something. As both stories illustrate, one good way to get other people to think of you as a unique individual is to show them that you think of them that way.

We walk a fine line in the rapport stage of information exchange. Most of us know when we negotiate that other people want things from us. We therefore guard against and discount techniques such as flattery and social niceties designed to gain influence. Overt, manipulative, and ingratiating behavior does not usually work and can be very costly in terms of credibility.

At the other extreme are blunders at the beginning of a negotiation that needlessly upset or offend the other party. These are especially common in cross-cultural situations, although any thoughtless act can interfere with bargaining. One of my favorite examples of a clumsy opening move involves Intel Corporation, the maker of computer chips. This story is also a reminder that everyone in a large organization is on its bargaining team, not just the people who happen to be at the bargaining table.

In the early 1980s, Intel was about to begin some very sensitive negotiations with a company in Japan. The Intel bargaining team had done its homework and was in Tokyo prepared to go through all the social rituals needed to establish a business relationship with a Japanese partner.

Back at its U.S. headquarters, Intel’s general counsel, Roger Borovoy, picked up the phone to answer a call from a newspaper reporter and was asked, in a conversational way, whether negotiating with Japanese firms was easy or hard. “Negotiating with the Japanese is like negotiating with the Devil,” Borovoy said. The quote soon appeared in the reporter’s story.

Shortly after the story was published, Intel’s negotiations got under way in Japan. Borovoy’s quote quickly found its way to Intel’s Japanese counterparts and cast a distinct chill over the proceedings. Intel’s would-be Japanese partners were not amused.

Andy Grove, chairman of Intel, was so chagrined by this event that he invented a new in-house Intel award to honor it. The award is called “The Muzzle.” It consists of a leather dog muzzle mounted on a wooden plaque. Borovoy was its first recipient, and

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