Everything is Negotiable by Gavin Kennedy

Author:Gavin Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448150748
Publisher: Random House

All else is irrelevant!

These criteria come from dealing with multiple versions of difficult negotiators in all kinds of negotiations for big and little stakes. Remember, most people believe that it’s always somebody else who is difficult, never themselves!

Apart from those who believe it pays them to be difficult because it gets them what they want, and they are takers through and through, there is another source of them being difficult, namely what they believe you, or your organisation, have done to them. Yes, you may regard yourself as close to sainthood, but not everybody may see you in quite that light.

Walking into a client’s office and meeting a silence and a stiffness of manner instead of the usual cheery welcome may indicate something you or your organisation has done to cause their great sense of grievance. Listening to and assessing the merits of their case is one sure way to separate the manipulative intimidator from the angry ‘victim’ of your misbehaviour. I have heard experienced negotiators disavow any temptation to accept that the other party’s case has any merits whatsoever because this might ‘soften’ their stance against them! But that is dangerous thinking because you may not be in possession of the full facts and may be defending the indefensible.

Hamish, when a young hotel manager, later a director of the hotel chain, and recently retired, explained to me many years ago how he dealt with irate customers whose anger made them difficult to deal with. Whenever guests ‘blew their top’ at the front desk, he invited them into his office and said, without pausing for interruptions or reactions, three things to them:

‘First, I unreservedly apologise for the stress we have caused you, second I shall listen to what you have to say, and third I shall put it right; now what’s the problem?’

He always said this before he knew what the problem was about and before he had assessed whether it was a genuine error on the part of the hotel, or merely a guest’s tantrum over something minor. In almost every case, the guest calmed down and the problem was sorted quickly.

To decide on the basis of the merit of their case there must be a discussion, which necessarily involves you listening to them. If you decide that your people made a mistake, put it right!

If your accounts people have sent a blunt routine letter chasing a payment, apologise before asking what was their problem with the payment, and make a note to speak to accounts, who may have delegated the selection of the letter’s tone to a junior or new member of their clerical staff, to take note of the effect of their routine over-keen credit control letters on good customers as well as the bad ones.

It may be that the complainer contributed to your mistake and when you have created the right conditions, you should discuss the implications for your resolution of the outcome. If you are not sure of the facts, assure them that you will check it out and get back to them.

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