Nov 11, 2020 | Blog
The negotiation process is a fickle, difficult, sometimes confusing creature for those still new to its ways. And unfortunately, this can often have devastating effects when it becomes reality rather than just theory. Success at the negotiation table relies on several different factors (tact, goodwill, goodwill, charm, and assertiveness are just a few among them), but none of it means anything if you don’t fully understand how the process works, how it can fail, and how you can better manage it. Need a little extra guidance, yourself? Here’s another look at the process of negotiations to help you out.
The Three Main Steps of Negotiation
Negotiation involves all sorts of little bits and pieces, but the process can be more broadly described to have three main steps: defining terms, counteroffering, and finalizing. The first of these is precisely what it says on the tin. This is where you sit down with stakeholders and any other involved parties and lay your cards out on the table. In other words, this is your first offer. What exactly is it that you need from this deal?
Price, quality, stock numbers, delivery schedules, etc. should all be presented at this point. The negotiating party will do the same, and then you move onto the counteroffering phase where most of the heavy lifting happens. This is when the actual negotiations come into play – discussing offers, finding the areas that are agreeable or disagreeable, then finding spaces you can compromise. Ideally, you should reach a mutually beneficial place in the end and finalize it all by drawing up contracts and following through on any agreed-upon offers.
All About Negotiation Gridlock
The steps of negotiation sound relatively simple and straightforward, but they take considerable finesse to do well – and they have several pitfalls just waiting around the corner waiting to throw a wrench in your business plans. The most pressing yet little discussed? Negotiation gridlock, which is what naturally happens when some part of the negotiating process breaks down and you’re left at a standstill. The culprit behind it is as varied as you’d expect.
Sometimes it’s simply because you and the other party have requirements or goals that are at odds, but it’s just as likely the result of a breakdown in communication. The problem of legalese is directly tied up in this and is one of the most significant barriers here, overcomplicated legal lingo obscuring the meaning and actual terms of a proposed offer and keeping the two parties from finding commonalities or compromising points.
Negotiation and Machine Learning
It is here that machine learning and artificial intelligence can really pay off. Rather than continuing to go round and round in circles, ML-based software like our Intelligent Negotiating Platform™ can simplify long-form contracts into just the key terms and ultimately optimize your negotiations. They can also assist in several other areas to make the process smoother, faster, and less intensive such as by automating certain agreements, using gathered data and predictive capabilities to better inform partnership decisions, find good terms for negotiation, and more – meaning gridlock is avoided and the negotiation process can continue unhindered.
About Intellext™
Intellext is an AI startup that is revolutionizing the way contracts are negotiated, accelerating time to close, and improving deal terms. Intellext’s Intelligent Negotiation Platform™ eliminates the complexities of contract redlines and stakeholder collaboration and optimizes deal terms by applying machine learning during the negotiation process.