The ABC of Negotiation - The Three Golden Rules to Become a Negotiator Over Night!

By Osama El-Kadi

In my 30 years doing negotiations at all levels, I realise that these three rules are really what matter for achieving great results in any type of negotiations. The wonderful thing about these three golden rules is that even unskilled negotiators can win big time using these rules. They are the ABC of negotiation.

1) Aim Big 2) Be Patient 3) Concede Small

1) Aim Big

This is the realm of Aspiration, Arnold Toynbee once said: “It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.”

I visited an Antique shop with my wife the other day and we fancied a great looking Victorian coffee table that was in mint condition.

The price tag was £499 and my wife was dying to buy it, the sales man noticed her attachment to the table and naturally wouldn’t budge on the pri

I said to him very politely that I am very embarrassed by the situation and that all what I have in my pocket is £90 pounds and no credit card

the sales man was shocked but appreciated my “openness” with him and said “you couldn’t make it £200 pounds.. (notice the concession he made.. for next golden rule).

I took my wife aside to ask if she has any money on her while she knew what I was doing..

I went back to the sales man and said my wife has only £20 on her and offered him all what we have which is £110 in total…..to my surprise he accepted while my wife was pleasantly in shock.

Obviously I can give you hundreds of examples on this golden rule, but I hope you got the point.

Poor negotiators are shy to ask or to aspire for stunning results. Remember you can always ask and the worst that could happen is that you get a NO, but more often than not the other party will want to continue if he saw that you are “genuine” and “polite”.

Try this rule when you buy a new car. First decide which car, study the price, determine how much you will pay (planning) and then, take the money in cash with you on the last day of the month and show it to the sales man “humbly” explaining that this is all you have for this beautiful car.

Just make sure that what you are paying him is around 20% less than the asking price. I promise you, you will get the car you dreamt off all this time and at a great price.

2) Be Patient

Have you heard of the expression "the 11Th hour?" And "All good things come to those who wait".

In most negotiations big concessions happen in the last few hours regardless of how long the negotiation has taken.

The more you bring the sales man or the buyer to his deadline without you conceding too much (The next golden rule) the more concessions will be given at the end.

Being patient till the end is what differentiates "the boys from the men and the girls from the women."

Top negotiators with no exceptions are patient, they play on the changing circumstances that will favour them in the end. This is one of Nature’s most sacred laws... things will change.

A Chinese proverb may be helpful here “if you wait patiently by the side of the river, the corpse of your enemy will pass you by”.

3) Concede small

You need to negotiate with the Russians one day to understand this golden rule.

The concession pattern tells a “patient” negotiator so much about his opponent's situation and negotiation style.

The salesman in the antique shop went from £499 to £200, he reduced the price by 60% in the first go.. Is there more concessions to come? You may ask... of course there is.

What about the sales man situation? You could safely assume that the article in question couldn’t have cost him more than third of what he is asking for and that my £90 offer was still making him little profit or he wouldn’t have continued the negotiation.

A reasonable return for him would in this case be 50% and hence my £110 offer was what he would be comfortable with albeit not a great deal for him.

If the sales man said from the outset that he couldn’t go less than £400 which is a reduction of 20% as the first concession... how much you think I could have settled this for?

The answer would be around £190. Why? Going by the “third cost rule” for his industry, the table would have cost him about £130, adding 50% makes around £190 pounds.

Do you get the point?

There you go, the ABC of negotiation: Aim Big, Be Patient, Concede small and good luck

Would you like more information about strategy, negotiation and training?

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Please keep visiting for more information and articles as I build them up and perhaps one day we will meet at one of your company conferences, if you invite me to speak of course!

Osama El-Kadi is an international negotiation and strategy Expert and motivational speaker

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Cheap Sourcing - Is it the new purchasing game in town or is it the most ancient practice on Earth?

I was invited to participate in a round table discussion along with senior colleagues from the largest procurement organisations in Europe. The moderator of the forum asked a question to all the attendees:” what are your views on the latest thinking in procurement organisations – Cheap Sourcing”. People started answering while highlighting their experiences and the advances they have made into this new trend in Procurement.

I felt a bit strange at the question and being a chief procurement officer myself, I felt a bit embarrassed that I have never really given this “new” the importance it deserves or even though about it much. I must be totally incompetent as a procurement officer since in such an important forum a question like this is being put forward to the participants, or am I outdated and not keeping up with the latest trends and technologies in procurement?

While the others were answering the question each in his own way, I scratched my head thinking to myself, well I do make good deals for my company, and in fact our deals are one of the best deals in the industry. We do search the globe for the best price and quality while focusing on continuity of supply to secure the company. The problem I have is that I never thought I was doing something extra ordinary or even implementing the latest “buzz” in the procurement industry.

I didn’t think either that this was modesty on my behalf. As my turn was nearing and my confusion at the question was increasing. It suddenly occurred to me that there is something missing here and being from an Egyptian origin myself I though to myself, hang on, the ancient Egyptian have been trading all over the globe for seven thousands years, the mummies of the pharaohs still preserved today are all encased in Tobacco leaves that could only have been “cheaply” sourced from the Americas thousands of years ago.

The roman empire invaded and occupied Egypt for only one thing, cheap and high quality Wheat to feed its army so that they could march further, occupying other territories and obtaining more goods and services from other cheaper sources.

The British Empire was built on trade and the desire to obtain goods, services and labour cheaply from all over the world. The British Empire gone even further and outsourced armies using other countries in Asia and Africa to fight the British wars up until to the Second World War. Cheap silk and spices from India, Cotton from Egypt and Tobacco from America and so on.
Most wars in history were about obtaining goods and services from cheap sources in reality.
This is why I didn’t understand the question in the first place.

At this stage I collected my courage and let it all out to my colleagues and the moderator, they all enjoyed the remarks and laughed at it.

I don’t think my remarks were funny at all. Sarcastic, may be but not funny.
Cheap sourcing is not a new game in town for procurement departments to brag about, it is in fact the oldest game in town since all empires in history were built and motivated by finding new cheaper source for labour, goods and services to please their citizens.

Put another way, all wars and empires were build and motivated by controlling these “cheaper” sources in the first place for the advancement of their own nations. These days the only difference is the fact that the acquirers of these goods and services have to pay the price which is usually still cheaper than obtaining it in their own country.

Great sending off

Last night I had a great leaving dinner with 12 of my good friends at Centrica. WE went to the Hinds Head in Bray and it was really great sending off.

I certainly enjoyed it so much. It was also heart warming to hear my Boss Matthew Thompson farwell words for me and for that I was gratful and for once lost for words.

I had some great presents with one exciting present among them, a Camel !!!!! I wonder why they bought me this :-) I gues because I use Camels a lot in my presentations.

Thank you my friends for being there with me in my last day at Centrica and I will certainly stay in touch.

Osama

My Last week as an employee and first week as a free man

After 28 years of working for some great blue chip companies in the UK, Harrods, The AA, NCR, Centrica, I decided to call it a day and spend the rest of my life working for myself.

This is my last week at my current company Centrica plc. Despite the obvious sadness of leaving such a great company, fantastic colleagues and wonderful memories, I feel a sense of joy and freedom having made the decision to go it alone in business.

Having Worked in the IT Industry for all those years within all of its aspects; programming, project management, technical support and buying & Selling, I gained a good experience especially in the Art and science of negotiations and strategy that I now wish to share.

4 years ago, I started to present at sales conferences and various gathering. I loved the job of speaking and coaching others in negotiations.

Now, it is my intentions to become independent speaker and consultant in the art and science of negotiations to advise, coach and energise sales force and procurement people in all sorts of organisation to achieve stunning results, simply by understanding the negotiating strategies that works.

My move is being received warmly by my colleagues and business contacts. The idea of starting to take full control of my life is also paying dividends and giving me great joy.

This is how I looked at things when I made my decision and took the jump into the wide open world; I though, well I am now 51 years old, dreaming all my life of being independent and of becoming a public speaker and a coach. After 28 years of hard work, I accumulated a modest amount of security and reached a good position within my current company.

One thing I couldn’t live with is the thought that when I am 70 years old to look back at my life and regret not having followed my dreams when I had the opportunity, relative security and strength to do so. A thought I couldn’t bear to live with any more.

So here I am, free at last, full of hope and joy and going it alone.

I am also starting this blog to meet people, update my friends of my progress "or lack of it" and share thoughts and ideas about succcess in life in general and the art and science of negotiations & strategy in particular.

So...Welcome to my Blog my friends and lets exchange our views and see what happens!!!

I am sure it will all be good fun in the end.

Osama El-Kadi