Shut up and listen

The overwhelming TV live from Cairo with its confrontation and sometimes-frightening violence hides a more negotiation process going on.  That process has a lesson for us that some of the parties are ignoring and that may doom the anti-Mubarak side, or lead to an Islamist state in Egypt.

The lesson is simple.  Instead of trumpeting your own demands incessantly, stop talking and listed to what the other side is saying, and even proposing.  Mubarak said he wants to stay on until the September election, but in passing he made clear why.  He wants to die on Egyptian soil. 

While for many the past 15 or 20 years have been of awful deprivation, at least in his own mind he was after the assassination of Anwar Sadat a great savior, one who prevented chaos, somewhat as LBJ prevented chaos when JFK was killed in 1963.  But LBJ’s one elected term brought him great hatred from some, and he decided not to stand for re-election in 1968.  He retired then to Texas.  Surely that is where he wanted to live out his days.

The anti-Mubarak forces demand he leave the country.  No chance he is going to do that.  He would rather die in a presidential palace, stoned to death.  But Egypt is large.  There must be some nice seaside town to which he could be allowed to retire with dignity, go swim in the Med and write a memoir.  They should listen to this and begin a dialog starting with that as an outcome both side should bargain to while they bargain the transition details.

Still, they are mostly screaming too loudly to hear that.  Except the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which is organized enough to suggest a sit-down.  They are a minority, but sitting down to talk could give them an upper hand in the government that follows.  Listen.

Is It Hypocrisy?

If you look at my web page about Professional Negotiation, http://gotiation,gotiationpro.com/Negot.html, you see I advocate a style and philosophy of negotiating that seeks to expose and then if possible satisfy the needs of both sides. But the page loads with an animation that exhorts "Don't Leave Money on the Table." How can I believe in both?

Negotiation properly done is each side gradually, as it gains trust in the other, exposing what it feels it needs to get from the negotiation. As I emphasize often, this does not mean stating a "position" but listing needs. Often a position focuses on price, only one part of real world deals. And it contemplates a back and forth auction. I advocate instead persuading the other side and yours that the appropriate price is one based on fair and objective standards. A "position" has no place in this process.

If the final price is fair and objective, then neither side has left money on the table and both have as closely as possible had their needs met.

A Successful Negotiation and its Lessons

Global Software, a large developer/marketer of specialized software, bought out the stock and thereby the main product of SuperTech Software. That main product was not fully developed, but promised great returns for Global, because the timing was right to take advantage of new government regs requiring such software. Global budgeted an extra ten per cent beyond the buy-out price to purchase training for its software people to learn enough about the product to finish developing it to something marketable.

Then they approached Cindy, the project manager and a principal developer at the former SuperTech, seeking the training they needed. They offered the budgeted 10%, but had a list of training tasks, although with missing parts. Cindy was confident that, personally and with colleagues she would organize, she could deliver the training. But not for the ten percent. What could she do?

Cindy’s business coach spent an hour or two with her persuading Cindy she could conduct an effective negotiation. She also got a few pointers from a professional negotiator. Then she approached Global’s project manager, Charles. She set a date to visit with him, and prepared a spreadsheet showing all the tasks that would be needed, reasonable prices for each task, and the total, which was about three times the budgeted 10%.

On the appointed day, and in several later phone calls, Cindy went over the details of the spreadsheet with Charles, explaining the amount of time required for each task, why the prices were in line with industry standards. She also explained how Global would waste its large investment if it went cheap on the tech transfer training, perhaps never completing the project, or completing it after the window of sales opportunity closed. He countered by explaining how they had set up a fixed budget and could not change it.

Finally, with persistence she convinced Charles, Global’s project manager. He in turn went to his boss and his boss’s boss to seek additional investment in training, using the materials Cindy provided. After hemming and hawing, the higher managers agreed, and Global issued a contract to Cindy, one that would assure her and her colleagues months of remunerative and interesting work.

This story—the names have been changed—illustrates several points about successful negotiating. The first is how important preparation is. The detailed spreadsheet greatly helped Cindy make her points. Doing it in advance enabled her to take the time to do it right.

The second is the use of outside, objective data. Here, that data were the prices for the various tasks, compared to typical pricing for similar training tasks.

Point three is that Cindy separated out any personal emotions she had initially about Global apparently trying to cheat her by offering a lowball contract, and using Charles as a battering ram.

The fourth point is Cindy stuck to her guns without being personally obnoxious or angry, but instead remaining informative. Eventually this negotiation worked out successfully.

The Marble Deal

"I don't care if it's a '4 Panel End of Day 15/16" Onionskin.' It's still just a marble, and I won’t give you a hundred bucks for it. 75 bucks, my final offer, take it or leave it."

"Look, it’s worth every nickel, but I need the cash, so I’ll throw in this china-grade hand painted clay marble from the 1800s. In fact I’ll give you three of them, all different, for the next five minutes or forget it."

This little negotiation started off as a traditional negotiation, "position based". Many negotiations never get more sophisticated, and may end in no deal. If one party switches to a “needs-based” bargaining model, things can go forward.

That can happen by one asking the other what his or her real needs are. Almost every deal is really based on multiple dimensions—if nothing else, the terms of payment. A buyer, like this one, may need quick cash, but willing to throw in something extra "to boot." On the other hand, a buyer may need time to complete payment, and be willing to come up in price to get the time.

Negotiation 101: needs-based negotiation seeks to discover this information to smooth the way to a deal. For more, see my article at A Better Way to Negotiate .