What are you Missing in Your Negotiations?

I know the problem - I have lived the problem - many times, even when I knew better. Chances are you’re living the problem, too.

From what I have seen, most negotiators are habitually missing something important in negotiations, causing unnecessary stress, extending the process, increasing transaction costs, and leading to worse outcomes. Tragically, they probably don’t even know what they’re missing!

What’s missing? What can you do about it?

What’s missing is a negotiation strategy. This is more than just an agenda or quick plan, but rather an identification of goals to be achieved and how to achieve them. With the strategy, you can make great plans, but without a strategy, plans are like jumping on an airplane without knowing the destination.

We have all seen it and lived the nightmare where negotiations drag on and on in circles without solid conclusions, pressure mounts, costs pile up, and you aren’t even sure what you are achieving. Sometimes, you end up rushed into a bad deal because the process has been too long and too expensive.

I have seen many deals die on the vine or fail (even after contracts were signed) because neither party had an actual strategy. Even when a deal goes through, it is often not good enough to meet the parties’ needs.

I have for years been sought by clients to close the deals they could not finalize after months, and sometimes years, of discussions. The first step was always to identify a strategy. And it works!

I’m Michael Malloy, an international lawyer and negotiation expert with over 30 years of experience in conducting negotiations for some of the best companies in the world and in the preparation and delivery of negotiation training in some of the world’s leading professional services firms.

The essence of creating a strategy is thinking through what you are trying to achieve and why you need to work with another party to fulfill your goals. I know that sounds like “grass is green” common sense, but if that sense is so common, why do so many negotiators (if not most) fail to formulate a strategy?

There are many reasons, but the main reason I have seen is it does not occur to the negotiation teams to apply a systematic approach to set goals, prepare positioning, gather information, create a negotiation plan, and then execute the negotiation according to plan.

While many think of negotiation as an art, it really is a science. I have distilled this science into what I call the Malloy Method. Those who learn the science master the art and become Ace Negotiators.

This blog entry is the first in a five-part series of short pieces on how to apply a strategic approach to your negotiations. This approach works for deals of all sizes and complexities.

Learn more about the Malloy Method through this blog, The Negotiator’s Edge, and join a free webinar to start on the path to becoming an Ace Negotiator.

Explore our website and participate in a free webinar to learn more about how you can bring strategic focus to your negotiation. Of course, you can always drop me a line at michael.malloy@michaelmalloyconsulting.com to get things started.

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