Negotiation, Step 7: Close

Use a trial closing to draw out all the issues, maybe asking if the other side will be satisfied if you agree to all its conditions. This will force the other party to raise any hidden issues.

The most common closing opportunity is a question about a minor aspect of your proposal, such as whether delivery is included or whether legal costs are covered. Instead of replying yes or no, answer this way: If you agree to our proposal, then we'll include delivery and cover legal costs. 

Closing conditions should be conditional about the deal, specific and small. Remember, when closing, don't get greedy and snatch dispute from the jaws of compromise. 

Next month we'll address Step 8, Agree.  

Tom's Turn: Negotiating skills enhance day-to-day business 

The mindsets and strategies you acquire in negotiation skills training can pay off in many aspects of your business. Skills such as resolving conflicts, picking up signals, asking probing questions, and many others can be applied time and again.  

Take project management, which involves people, time and money. As a project manager, you know that inadequate funding or lack of head count can make it impossible to achieve the desired results. By using negotiating strategies, though, you can ask the right questions to determine, for example, which lower-priority facets could be eliminated. You may make a proposal, saying, "If you agree to allocate $250,000 and assign five people, I'll commit to completing these facets of the project."  

Your thoughts on this topic are invited! Email Tom.

Tom Governale is Scotwork NA's Vice President of Business Development & Strategy.  

With specific points and clearly defined objectives and consequences, management has the balance of power, says Paul Anderson of The Steritech Group, our June winner. Congrats, Paul, for this insightful analysis!:  

By specifying figures like the 20% wage and benefit cut to avoid job cuts and the anticipated $100 million wasted on the World Trade Center project, management makes a compelling argument. On the other hand, the union's points, such as, "We've made concessions over the past two years," are too vague and do little to support its side. Advantage, contractors!

Enter the contest below on the FAA dispute and win a bottle of wine or a seat at our course! 

FAA partial shutdown: you decide

Thanks to a disagreement between Republicans and Democrats about  subsidies to rural airports and the right to unionize, the FAA partially shut down on July 24. As a result, thousands may temporarily lose their jobs. The key issues:

1. $16.5 million for 13 rural airports

Democrats

This subsidy is critical for rural areas.

Republicans

We allocated $16 billion for the FAA, but this subsidy had to be cut.

2. Right to unionize

Democrats

Like other workers, airline employees should be able to form a union by a simple majority of those voting, as ruled last year by the National Mediation Board.

Republicans

This new rule reverses 75 years of precedent in order to favor labor unions.

3. General

Democrats

The subsidies provision of the bill is a symbolic gesture to force us to negotiate with Republicans on the labor issue.

Republicans

Favors to organized labor have overshadowed the prospects for long-term FAA funding.

Win a bottle of wine...

Sandy Sbarra

Bio    Email

Rich Waldrop Bio    Email

Simon Letchford

Bio  Email 

Register here for  Advanced Negotiating Skills on various dates, including the newly added course on Oct. 17-20 in San Francisco.  

Parsippany, NJ  

-Sept. 12-15

-Oct. 10-13

-Nov. 7-10

-Dec. 5-8

Other sites  

-Sept. 26-29

 (Chicago)

-Oct. 17-20

 (San Francisco)

About Scotwork

North America

Scotwork (NA) Inc. is the North American division of Scotwork Negotiating Skills, the world's largest independent provider of negotiation skills training and consulting with offices in 35 countries.

Its seasoned negotiators offer consulting and training in 22 languages to more than 9,000 executives and managers worldwide. Scotwork's clients receive an average return of 10 times the course fee within three months.