Experienced public speakers will emphatically tell you one of the most important elements of the preparation process is knowing and understanding the audience.
Why? It’s simple. If you know the audience, you can know better what they are looking for, what they need from your pitch, and what questions they’re likely to ask. If you’re giving a talk on educational opportunities to a group of environmentalists, don’t you think they’re going to want to know more about the environmental courses you plan to offer? Of course they will.
Your counterparty, like you, will enter the negotiation with his own list of goals, musts, and wants. If you know him, you’ll be better prepared to address those musts and wants. There should be fewer—maybe no—surprises.
I can’t sufficiently underscore enough the importance of knowing your counterparty before you get started.
There are two dimensions (usually) to knowing a counterparty. First, you should try to know them as an organization—what is their business, what do they offer, what are their strengths and weaknesses, what makes them successful, or not. Second, you should get to know the people within the counterparty—who are they, what role do they serve in their organization, what sort of negotiating style do they use.
You can do research on the organization in many ways:
• Online research. A quick tour through the organization’s website will give you a good idea of their products and how they position them—price, quality, service—and how they do business with their customers.
• Talk to customers. If you have the same customers, or you have “peer” customers in your own business, don’t hesitate to ask them for more info and the “scoop.” If you run a corner deli and are negotiating with a food-service supplier, ask another restaurant-operating peer for his impressions about that supplier.
• Walk in the door—figuratively or literally. Prior to the negotiation, pay a visit in person to get a feel for how the counterparty operates. If you’re negotiating for a paving project, drop in on one of the others they have in progress. See how they work, what they do. If someone’s available, ask questions.
These methods may give you tangible negotiating points or simply give you a better feel for who (as an organization) you’re negotiating with.
Your underlying negotiating strategy should be cut to fit the strategy and style of your negotiating opponent. If you’ve seen your counterparty before as an individual, study her playing style, and learn as much as possible about why she’s investing her time in the negotiation. By reviewing the other party’s training, accomplishments, education, and work history, for example, you can better predict her actions and be more prepared to address them.
Try to get the specifics of what the other party’s goals are early on—so you can weigh your leverage against hers and adjust your game plan if you need to. You can use the first few minutes of the meeting to discuss some of the objectives you share and those that you do not.
Learn as much as you can about the other party’s background. What is this person’s title? Role in the organization? Experience? What kinds of deals does she negotiate? What is her negotiating style?
In today’s split-second information age, it’s possible to find out more about people more quickly than ever before. Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, plus the varied ways to network on your own, give you access to information on your counterparty. You can learn a lot about the character of an individual and an organization just by looking around on the web and by tapping into the network.
Always Keep Tabs on the Competition
It almost goes without saying in today’s business world—and especially today’s negotiating world—that knowing what the competition does and is up to is a vital part of preparation for any negotiation. Simply put—what does the competition do? What concessions do they make and where do they hold firm?
In today’s information age, it is possible to research negotiating points and concessions very quickly and easily online. But you might also want to deploy a little “shoe leather”—get out and research in person. If you run a restaurant, have a meal at the competition’s once in a while (you’re probably tired of eating your own cooking anyhow!).
Find out what your competitors offer—price, service, and intangibles—and how each compares to your own product or service. Understand your counterparty’s competition as well—this may even be more important. If you’re selling packaging materials to an electronics supplier, understand not only your competition in the packaging industry but also the competition your counterparty faces in his part of the electronics industry. How do his competitors package their products? Always do your competitive homework beforehand, although some can be done in “real time” during the negotiation if you have Internet access.