Question

Think of a difficult negotiation you must soon address. What barriers do you perceive in achieving an integrative resolution? In small groups, share your concerns about this negotiation, talk about the barriers, and come up with strategies to overcome them.

Answer 1

The difficult negotiation I will be taking part is when I am selling the business intelligence platform we have developed to the customer in Germany. The customer has already shown interest in the product but he is not happy with the pricing and he wants to negotiate on that in the next discussion. We are quoting $50 per person per month to use the platform. The customer is asking for $30 and we can come down up to $45 and still end up making a good profit. To achieve success in this negotiation we need to overcome some of the barriers like:

• Understanding the customer's business fully and know who the product can add value to their business
• Understand the financial situation of the company and where they are planning to invest more in the coming years
• Know who is the real decision maker in the customer company
• We need to overcome the barrier of language
• Thoroughly know what we can promise and what we cannot promise to the customers

The above mentioned are both barriers and how we need to overcome them to come up with a win-win situation for both the parties. The Europeans are always very clear about their requirements and they do not mind paying a good price for the product that can add value to their business. So the integrative resolution is quite possible to achieve to overcome the above-mentioned barriers. We need to know everything about the company and what we can provide them for the price they are asking the product for. We need a communication plan as well to keep the communication crisp and clear.