Finding a win-win solution, a deal in which both sides are satisfied, is difficult if you don’t even know when your own team is winning. You can’t believe how many people can’t tell the difference between a good deal and a bad deal. That situation should never be the case if you use this method of evaluating your negotiations. Usually, I hear the lament about a deal long past. When I hear someone complain about a deal he or she made, I am immediately curious. I ask and explore. More often than not, the speaker either forgot why the deal was made in the first place, or the other party breached the agreement.
ü A good deal is one that is fair under all circumstances at the time the agreement is made. It provides for various contingencies before problems arise. A good deal is workable in the real world. What is and isn’t fair is very subjective. The parties must decide for themselves whether an agreement is fair based on their own criteria. Make sure that everyone is in agreement. Draw the other side out on this basic point before closing the deal. You don’t want to sign a deal with someone who is harboring resentments over some aspect of the agreement. Be sure that the other side agrees that the deal is a good one.
ü A bad deal is not fair under all the circumstances. It allows foreseeable events to create problems in the relationship after the deal is struck. Some aspect of the agreement looks great on paper but simply doesn’t work out in the real world – for reasons that were predictable during the deal-making process.
Each party should assess whether the deal is good or bad. You determine whether a deal is good or bad for you; the other party determines whether that same deal is good or bad for him or her.
Happy Negotiating,
Michael
For additional negotiating resources, please visit www.fearlessnegotiating.com
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