There are two words that have very similar meanings, negotiation and communication. The two words are both mean "speaking" and "talking", but someway are very different in anglosphere countries, especially in the north American cultures.
‘Communication means a that method to efficiently talk with each other, in the other way negotiation means efficiently transact financial matters.’ *1
So far at there, as you can see, when we do business with foreigners, it is would not be a simple communication, but a substantive and purposeful negotiation.
Negotiation is a technique of discussing issues among one selves and reaching to a conclusion benefiting all involved in the discussion. It is one of the most effective ways to avoid conflicts and tensions. When individuals do not agree with each other, they sit together, discuss issues on an open forum, negotiate with each other and come to an alternative which satisfies all. In a layman’s language it is also termed as bargaining.
Please go through the above two real life situations once again.
You want to go for a movie but you know that your parents will never agree to your decision. Will you fight with your parents? Obviously NO, instead you will sit with them and try your level best to convince them and negotiate with them without fighting and spoiling everyone’s mood. Probably you will spend the coming weekend with your parents if they allow you today for the movie else you will negotiate with your friends so that they agree for a noon show. Negotiation helps you to achieve your goal without hurting anyone. Your goal in this case is to go for a movie and you negotiate either with your parents or friends to achieve the same.
In the second situation, Tom could not afford to lose the CD player as it was an exclusive one, thus he tries to negotiate with the store owner to lower the price so that it suits his pocket and even the store owner earns his profit as well.
Negotiation is essential in corporates as well as personal lives to ensure peace and happiness.[1]
Your boss asks you to submit a report within two working days and you know that the report is a little critical one and needs more time. Will you say a yes to your boss just to please him? Your yes might make the boss happy then but later you will land yourself in big trouble if you fail to submit it within the desired time frame. It’s always better to negotiate with your boss rather than accepting something which you know is difficult. Ask for some more time from your boss or probably don’t make an exhaustive report. Negotiation is better as it would prevent spoiling your relation with your superiors later.[2]
---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1]Christopher Copper-Ind. How To: Negotiate Published March 12th 2019 by Bluebird
[2] SchinstockD.E., CuttinoJ.F..CHINA TRADE (Lydia Chin and Bill Smith Book 1)
2.2 How negotiation worked
When we understand the difference between communication and negotiation, we need to be comfortable using our negotiation skills to get more revenue in order to close our deal, sell our product or buy suitable service from foreigners.
Now I will try to come up with a few skills as the explanation, convenient for the reader to understand what is more detailed negotiation skills.
1.Swallow your fears and make the first bid.
2.Use silence to your advantage.
3.Never set a range
Example1;
Swallow your fears and make the first bid.
People hate to go first, if only because going first might mean missing out on an opportunity: "If I quote a price of $5,000," the thinking goes, "and he would have happily paid $7,000, I leave money on the table." In the real world, that rarely happens, because the other person almost always has a reasonable understanding of value.So set an anchor with your first offer. (The value of an offer is highly influenced by the first relevant number--an anchor--that enters a negotiation. That anchor strongly influences the rest of the negotiation.)Research shows that when a seller makes the first offer, the final price is typically higher than if the buyer made the first offer. Why? The buyer's first offer will always be low. That sets a lower anchor. In negotiations, anchors matter.If you're buying, be first and start the bidding low. If you're selling, start the bidding high.[3]
Example2;
Use silence to your advantage.
Most of us talk a lot when we're nervous, but when we talk a lot, we miss a lot.If you make an offer and the seller says, "That is way too low," don't respond right away. Sit tight. The seller will start talking in order to fill the silence. Maybe he'll list reasons why your offer is too low. Maybe he'll share why he needs to make a deal so quickly. Most of the time, the seller will fill the silence with useful information--information you would never have learned if you were speaking.Listen and think more than you speak. When you do speak, ask open-ended questions. You can't meet in the middle, much less on your side of the middle, unless you know what other people really need.Be quiet. They'll tell you.[4]
Example3;
Never set a range.
People love to ask for ballpark figures. Don't provide them; ballpark figures set anchors, too.For example, don't say, "My guess is the cost will be somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000." The buyer will naturally want the final cost to be as close to $5,000 as possible--and will come up with plenty of reasons why his or her price should be at the low end of the range--even if what you are eventually asked to provide should cost well over $10,000.Never provide an estimate when you don't have enough information. If you're not ready to quote a price, say you aren't sure and keep asking questions until you are sure.[2]
[2] SchinstockD.E., CuttinoJ.F..CHINA TRADE (Lydia Chin and Bill Smith Book 1)
[3]HGrammar Launch Intermediate June 20, 2016
[4] An Introduction to Functional Grammar by M.A.K Halliday
3. Practicing
3.1 Which points should we pay attention to
Please remember this, in the field of international trade, a large part of the communication needs to be related to the content of negotiations, if only through communication to solve the price problem, this is far from the real business behavior. how to maximize the interests in the business field, we should always pursue the goal which one is how to maximize the interests in the business field .
If we want to successfully conduct a negotiation, why don't we divide the negotiation into three stages in advance and make corresponding preparations in each stage? I think this will improve our negotiation success rate.
The three stages are:
1.Pre-negotiation: Fully prepared before the negotiation.
2.Face-to-face negotiation: The negotiator must have at the back of his mind and awareness of what happening at that moment.
3.Post-negotiation: Do not release yourself until the contract is really drawn up.
4.
3.2 To understand their culture is necessary
Social psychological research on negotiation in the 1960s and 1970s also explored a series of situational/structural variables. These are the variables that define the context of the negotiation. At meanwhile it is very important to note that when negotiating with guests from many countries, we should never treat them equally, because each country has its own culture, behavior and habits. When we try to negotiate with them, we must have a certain understanding of their culture. [8] Otherwise there is a high likelihood that a deal will not be reached even loss our own interests.
For example, Negotiation is also important when you are dealing with vendors. An organization needs money to survive and take care of the employees as well. It can’t afford to spend money as it is. A single penny saved will help you and the organization later. The person dealing with the external parties must be a good negotiator else he will end up paying more amount than required. Always sit with the vendor and quote a price little lower than you intend to pay. He will definitely ask you to increase it and probably then you will reach to a figure well within your organization’s budget. Don’t be rude with your vendor but be very confident and convincing. Remember you are not dealing with him just once; you need to maintain a healthy relationship with him for future business as well. Try to convince the vendor at such a rate which would benefit your organization and save money. Quote realistic figures and do take care of the vendor’s profits as well. Try your level best to close the deal.
[8]Lingyun Chu. Study on English Translation of China's Tea-Business Publicity Materials from the Perspective of Skopos Theory[P]. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Humanities (ICCESSH 2017),2017.
4.Conclusion
The psychological study of negotiation has witnessed an amazing set of shifts over the past 25 years, often in parallel with more global changes in the field of psychology and the broader society. As you can see, we have many disadvantages in terms of language. There are skills in existing languages, and we're still trying to improve our language skills, and they're starting to improve their negotiation skills.
Reference
[1]Christopher Copper-Ind. How To: Negotiate Published March 12th 2019 by Bluebird
[2] SchinstockD.E., CuttinoJ.F..CHINA TRADE (Lydia Chin and Bill Smith Book 1)
[3]HGrammar Launch Intermediate June 20, 2016
[4] An Introduction to Functional Grammar by M.A.K Halliday
[8]Lingyun Chu. Study on English Translation of China's Tea-Business Publicity Materials from the Perspective of Skopos Theory[P]. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Humanities (ICCESSH 2017),2017.
