Do you know the single most important word in negotiating?
Published May 2008
If is the most important word in negotiating. The people who negotiated last years pay agreement with the NHS doctors clearly didn't understand the importance of if. If they had, they wouldn't have made such huge concessions on pay, without linking them to performance. Now they are engaged in trying to renegotiate the agreement, in a desperate attempt to win back some of the ground and money they lost, all for the want of if.
The FA clearly didn't understand the importance of if when they negotiated with Sven Goren Eriksson, to agree the terms of the England manager's job. As a result they were still paying his salary twelve months after he relinquished the job. If only they had used a little if, when discussing his pay demands, they might have saved themselves more than a little money, when it all ended in disaster at the World Cup.
So many people, charged with negotiating contracts fail to understand that negotiating is not about concession making to reach an agreement, it's about trading. We trade our concessions to get something we want. In short we need to use a little if. "If you can give me X I might be able to move on Y" or " I might be able to move on Y if you will give me X."
The power doesn't always lie with our customers when we are negotiating agreements, no matter how much they want us to believe it does. Not all products and services are commodities and not all suppliers are the same. If the customer engages in negotiation with us, it's because they want to buy from us. So don't just give in and say yes to their demands, say if…
If you would like to know more about our research into negotiation skills and especially into the skills of bargaining read our white paper, Are your people negotiating or concession making? and read our Negotiation skills programme overview. If you want to be a skilled negotiator, that is!
