Throughout the course, you have debated and discussed the subject of negotiations, and you have also assisted a fellow student on a conflict resolution project. In Week 3, you were specifically asked to find something you can negotiate, and take notes on the negotiation. Hopefully, by this week you have not only identified the subject of your negotiation but have gathered pertinent information to assist you in the negotiation process. As you recall, some suggested negotiation topics were:
1. Trying to buy a car (you don’t have to do the deal).
2. Trying to get a better deal on your cell phone, internet, or cable TV package.
3. Trying to negotiate a raise from your employer, especially when the employee does not have adequate resources to provide a raise.
4. Trying to purchase a new piece of jewelry from a jewelry store, one not known to negotiate its prices.
5. Any negotiation you really are experiencing during the term (i.e. promotion, new job terms, etc.).
Before doing the negotiation, you needed to do these things, and take written notes for each item.
1. Define the negotiation you planned. Who is your competitor? Who has the “upper hand” in this deal and why?
2. Describe your goal of the negotiation.
3. Define your BATNA of the negotiation.
4. Review the 10 Best Practices of Negotiations in Chapter 12. Select at least three best practices that you plan to use in this negotiation.
Do the negotiation, and describe:
- Who made the first offer?
- How was it communicated?
- What was the response?
- Was there a counteroffer? Describe all counteroffers.
- Did you communicate your BATNA to your opponent? Why or why not? Did this seem to work?
- Did your opponent communicate his or her BATNA to you? Why or why not? Did this seem to help the negotiation?
- Which of the 10 Best Practices of Negotiations in Chapter 12 did you actually use? Was this different from your plan? If so, what happened that caused you to change?
- What was the final result of your negotiation?
- What did you learn from this about negotiating?
10 Best Practices of Negotiations
Be prepared
Diagnose the fundamental structure of the negotiation
Identify and work the BATNA
Be willing to walk away
Master the key paradoxes of negotiation:
- Claiming value vs. creating value
- Sticking by your principles vs. being resilient enough to go with the flow
- Sticking with your strategy vs. opportunistically pursuing new options
- Being too honest and open vs. being too closed and opaque
- Being too trusting vs. being too distrusting
Remember the intangibles
Actively manage coalitions-those against you, for you, and unknown
Savor and protest your reputation
Remember that rationality and fairness are relative
Continue to learn from your experience
Use at least three resources/references. Write your notes up into a report about the negotiation, which includes all of the information requested.
Answer preview
Although I negotiated for a lower price, I had the upper hand in the deal as compared to my competitor based on the fact that my competitor lived in a different state from the seller and I happened to live in the same state as the seller. The seller was also interested in a quick sale with no extra costs including mailing fee. Because the seller was my neighbor, I could quickly pick the phone without requiring him to ship the phone to me and risk the phone getting lost or tampered with before it arrived at its destination. Thus, I believe that I had the upper hand in the deal regardless of having negotiated for a price lower than that arranged for by my competitor. The goal of the negotiation was to get a better offer for the phone. I believe that $ 890 for a second-hand phone which has been used for close to eight months was quite extreme. Thus, I offered to purchase the phone at $ 800 to be able to save the extra 90 dollars and get value for my money.
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