Negotiating Deadlines

Deadlines force action. It’s no accident that tax returns are filed on April 15, that Christmas presents are bought on December 24th, or that political lobbyists get bills passed just before adjournment. We accept many deadlines that are part of our daily lives—work starts at 9AM and stops at 5PM, airplanes leave at their scheduled time, bills are due on the 10th of the month.

We respond to many deadlines almost without awareness. Deadlines pressure you into making an either-or choice. You can choose to accept the deadline, or ignore it and live with the consequences.

Be skeptical of deadlines. Sometimes they are real and sometimes they can be negotiated.

Many deadlines are not as real as you might think they are. Hotels will let you stay beyond 1PM without charge. Bids due on the tenth may be accepted on the eleventh. The offer that was to expire on June 1 is usually available on June 2. Newspaper reporters miss their deadlines, but I’ve yet to run into a blank column in a newspaper.

Of course, when you are negotiating, there is a risk in not believing a deadline. The more you know about the other party and their organization the better you will be able to determine if a deadline is real.

Remember—time is power. Most of us go into a negotiation with a self-imposed weakness. We are always aware of the time pressure on ourselves. That knowledge makes us less effective than we could be. What we should concentrate on are the deadlines that constrain the other party. If you have deadlines, there are probably deadlines on the other person. These three questions will help guide you out of the deadline trap:

* What self-imposed or organization-imposed deadlines am I under that make it harder for me to negotiate?
* Are the deadlines imposed on me by myself, or my organization, real? Can I negotiate an extension with my own people?
* What deadlines are putting pressure on the other party and their organization?

Be wary and skeptical when a deadline is impacting your ability to negotiate the best agreement. Time limits have a way of hypnotizing us. We tend to accept them even when we shouldn’t. That’s why you should put a deadline on any offer you put on the table. It may help motivate the other side to make the decision you want.

Negotiating During A Recession

Tips for Recession Negotiations

Regardless of what other business skills you possess, economic times like this demand fine tuned negotiating skills. Today! Right Now! Review the negotiating tools you learned at your Karrass seminar.

OK, so the economy is terrible. Don't panic! You've been trained to negotiate. Review the eight negotiating tips below. Don't wait and simply become a victim.

Are you being asked to reduce costs? Close more sales? Get a difficult project back on track? These are all negotiations.

Both you and your organization are facing challenges. Today's negotiations directly and immediately impact your business and perhaps your career. Negotiate your way through this temporary negative business climate.

Negotiating skills are critical to surviving this recession and emerging in a stronger and more competitive position. Use your negotiating skills to protect both yourself and your organization's interests.

What factors are critical to your business success? What can you negotiate to enhance these factors? What needs to be re-negotiated right now?

Karrass has been teaching negotiating for over 40 years. We've seen tough recessions before, and so have our clients. Now is the time to apply what you learned from Karrass.

Start by reviewing these key Karrass negotiating principals:

1. Don't be afraid to negotiate. Remember to set your targets high--everyone has pressures.

2. Take time to learn about the other side. Understand their needs, time limits, constraints and willingness to compromise or concede. Their business environment has changed just like yours.

3. Do the planning necessary to produce a successful outcome (use the Karrass planning guide in your seminar book).

4. Use the 'Devil's Advocate Procedure' -- your discovery process will help you anticipate the other side's arguments and tactics.

5. Negotiate 'In Depth' -- understand the organizational and personal elements involved--on both sides of the negotiation. Identify all the players.

6. Be skeptical about the facts, statistics, averages, and other data submitted by the other side to support their position. Don't be intimidated by this data--there is a reason they are presenting it in this format to you. It supports their position, not yours!

7. Don't be intimidated by status or authority. Do your homework and be confident in your abilities to support your positions.

8. Remember you really do have more power than you think you do. Analyze the limits to the other side's power--they can't use all the strength they might have. Current circumstances have altered their power. Can they really use your competition or competitive ideas? Focus on their pressures--not your pressures.Your Karrass negotiating skills can serve you well in these tough economic times.

NEGOTIATE WISELY!