Negotiating in Life, Negotiating Tips, Planning for Negotiations March 18, 2011

The importance of negotiating face to face

As technology improves, many businesses are finding it is more cost-effective to conduct meetings and negotiations online, via video-conference or web-conference. And most, if not all, businesses exchange all sorts of documents via email or text messaging. Technology may reduce overall costs, but it may not improve the effectiveness of your negotiation.

Text-based communication is probably the worst medium for negotiations. Text cannot convey tone or inflection, which negotiators need to determine the seriousness (or other emotions) of the other party.

With any video-conferencing or teleconferencing meetings, negotiators do not have access to the information that visual cues and body language provide. However, Dr. Chester L. Karrass recommends choosing telephone negotiations when you are trying to get to a very quick resolution or trying to get the attention of someone who is hard to get a hold of. Most people find it easier to say no on the phone than in person.

In an article on BNet.com, Wayne Turmel argues for the importance of meeting in person in the article “Face to Face Still Rules – Tell Your Boss and the Bean Counters.” The article, which is based on a study conducted by the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, shares the following findings:

• Face to face meetings facilitate bonding and increase trust
• Virtual meetings tend to diminish attention by those involved
• Face-to-face meetings often have downtime, which is valuable for building connections

Even though there may be a cost-savings to hold virtual negotiations, these saving may be offset by the pitfalls encountered when you lose face-to-face interaction.

How often do you hold virtual negotiations? Have you found that you are as effective or less effective when you are not in the same room as the other party?