F) How to be sure that you understand a proposal

E	D	F	A	C

1.__________________________________________

Negotiation is a process by which people try to come to an agreement. An important part of any negotiation is making a proposal. When you make a proposal, you say what you would like to do or have. If one side does not like the proposal, then they usually make a counter proposal. A counter proposal is a new proposal. The two sides keep making proposals until they both agree. (1) If they cannot agree, the negotiations break down. (2) They fail. For example, let us say you are selling your car for $1,000. That is your proposal. I tell you that I will pay $500. That is my counter proposal. If you say that you will accept $800, I can accept your counter proposal, or make a new one. If, at last, we both accept the price we make a deal, if not, our negotiation fails.

2. ________________________________________

The first thing to do in negotiation is to focus on common ground. Common ground is an interest which you both share. (4) For example, you may want to buy a high quality fax machine from the company X. They want to sell it. That is common ground. That is a good way to start. The second thing is to be very honest about any problems you see. (3) For example, you may want to buy their fax machine but it may be too expensive. First, you can say that they have an excellent product and then state your problem about the price. After you have stated your position clearly, ask the other side to state their position clearly too. The best advice is to be honest at all times. Being honest will allow you to build fruitful relationships. These relationships will help you in your future negotiations.

3.__________________________________________

In negotiations two people will sometimes think that they understand each other. Later they can realize that they did not really understand something. (5) The best advice is to ask questions to check their understanding. They may say the same idea in other words to confirm the information. For example, let us say someone wants to sell you a product. You think that price is $50 but you are not sure. You can restate the idea and say “So, you will sell them to us at $50 each, won’t you?” The other side has nothing than to agree with this idea or disagree. So you can know if you have understood the other side correctly or not.

4.___________________________________________

In business it is sometimes necessary to disagree even with your boss. When you disagree it is important to recognize the other person’s feeling. (6) Saying “You are wrong!” directly is very impolite. You should use expressions for polite disagreement (6), for example, – “I hope you are right, but…”, “I understand what you are saying but…”, “I can understand your concern, but…”. It is always good to show that you understand the other person’s position. Even if you don’t agree with people, you should let them know that you understand their idea.

5.___________________________________________

There are many expressions in English to bring a conversation to close. These expressions will tell the other person that the conversation will end soon. At the end of the conversation you may say “Well, it was nice to talk to you!” (7) Before you say “Good-bye” you can send greetings to other people you know or to with the person a nice day or a good trip. These expressions are a friendly way to prepare to the end of the conversation before you say good-bye.

A) Read the texts again and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F):

1) The goal of the negotiation is reach to an agreement. - T (1)

2) Negotiations sometimes fail. – T (1)

3) You should not tell the other side about the problem you see. – F (3)

4) In negotiations you should focus on interests that you share. – T (4)

5) In negotiations people sometimes think they understand each other but they really do not get the idea correctly. – T (5)

6) When you disagree with a person you must say directly that he/she is wrong. – F (6)

7) A good expression to end the conversation is “It was nice speaking to you.” – T (7)

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