I’M CJ JACKSON AND THIS IS THE BUSINESS REVIEW
WHEN NEGOTIATING, IT'S ASSUMED EACH SIDE WANTS TO MAKE A DEAL. CHRIS MEYER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MANAGMENT, SAYS THAT’S NOT ALWAYS THE CASE.
“A very interesting idea that was published in the Journal OF Experimental Social Psychology by Kang and three of her colleagues. Sometimes we go into a negotiation for a strategic purpose. We go in only to try and discern some information with no intention of making a deal. Think about times that you've walked into car dealerships, just to get some information. And of course, in order to get that information, sometimes you have to start a negotiation with the salesperson. If you're the salesperson who is there spending time with an insincere negotiator, that's costing you money, that's costing you time, that’s costing you the interaction.”
WHEN ENCOUNTERING SUCH A NEGOTIATOR, LEADING THEM IN ANOTHER DIRECTION CAN CHANGE THE INTERACTION FROM ONE OF SUSPICION, TO ONE OF TRUST AND RELATIONSHIP.
“Insincere negotiators just means they are not there with the motive to achieve an outcome, they are there with a different motive. Watch for the stalling, watch for asking those tangential questions and think to yourself, why are they involved in this? What are they trying to achieve here? And then try and lead them in the right direction, lead them in a direction that also serves you. Try to turn it into an opportunity to build the relationship build some trust. Flip negotiator from the insincere negotiator into someone you can work with, someone you can do business with.”
BUSINESS REVIEW IS A PRODUCTION OF LIVINGSTON & MCKAY AND THE HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY.