Read the conversation. Pay attention to the expressions used in it.

Bill: - We need to decide whether to take that business trip to Europe or not. Basically, it is a decision to expand our sales (продвинуть наш товар) into the European market. I’d like to hear your ideas.

Tom: - I’m in favour of it. It’s a great idea. It will put us ahead of the competition.

Michelle: - Personally, I’m against it. I don’t think it’s cost-effective (прибыльно с учетом затрат).

Carlos: - It’s an interesting idea, but I’m undecided. I vote against it.

Paul: - I agree with Carlos. Do we have the money to do a good job?

Tom: - Let’s look at our budget again. I am confident the benefits will overweigh the costs (выгоды перевесят затраты).

Michelle: - Sorry, I cannot agree with you. I don’t think it will work. All we can do is to work up pro forma.

Paul: - Excuse me, would you mind repeating that?

Michelle: - Sure. What I’m saying is that I don’t know if we can see if the profits will be greater than our costs (выгоды будут больше затрат).

Bill: - Let’s stop here. I think we have a serious disagreement at this point. We will continue this afternoon.

The Art of Negotiating

Negotiate [ni’gouζiet] means to try to reach agreement by discussion. But to reach an agreement is not so easy because each side has their own interests and should have much profit.

Preparation

1. Planning. Make sure you prepare properly. The less you prepare, the more you will be at a disadvantage and the less you will be to achieve a satisfactory outcome.
2. Research. Try to find out as much as you can about your opposite number and his business. Use the resources from a business library and talk to your business contacts.
3. Goals. Decide what your goals are. Remember you are looking for a win-win situation of benefit for both parties.
4. Limits. Knowing your negotiating limits and their reasons will help you negotiate more confidently and comfortably.
5. Strategy. Plan you negotiating strategy carefully, taking into consideration the personality of your opposite number, as well as your own strengths and weaknesses.

Techniques

1. Rapport [ræ’po:](связь, отношение). Try to establish a good rapport with your opposite number from the moment you first meet, whether or not you already know each other.
2. Parameters. Confirm the subject and purpose of your negotiation early on and try to establish areas of common ground and conflict.
3. Listen! Listening attentively at every stage of your negotiation will help you to avoid misunderstanding and create a spirit of cooperation.
4. Attitude. Be constructive, not destructive – treat your opposite number with respect and tact.
5. Approach. Keep your objectives in mind – and try to keep a clear head.
6. Flexibility. Be prepared to consider arrangement of alternatives and try to make creative suggestions for resolving any problems. Be prepared to make concessions and to compromise.
7. Review. Summarise and review your progress at regular intervals during negotiation.
8. Agreement. When you have reached agreement, close the deal firmly and clearly. Confirm exactly what you have reached.
9. Confirmation. Write a follow-up letter to confirm in writing the points agreed.

Language

1. Simplicity. Keep your language simple and clear. Use short words and sentences.
2. Clarity. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if there is anything you don’t understand.

These are some useful phrases to use during the negotiation.

Ø Identifying yourself:

- I’m Peter Jensen from British Petroleum.

- I’m the General Manager at IBM.

Ø Introducing other people:

- Let me introduce my colleague, John Martin.

- I’d like you to meet..., he is our Marketing Manager.

- This is …

Ø Greetings for first meetings:

- How do you do?

- I’m pleased to meet you.

Ø Greetings for second meetings:

- It’s good to see you again.

- How are you?

Ø Getting agreement on procedure:

- Can we now agree on the overall procedure?

- First of all, I think we should establish the overall procedure.

Ø Starting principal objectives:

- Our main objective is to...

- What we’d like to achieve from this meeting is …

Ø Checking agreement and acceptance of objectives:

- Is that OK with you?

- Does that fit with your objectives?

Ø Starting general negotiating interest:

- We are interested in increasing our options...

- We’d like to work with …

- Our key interest here is …

- It is extremely important for us to …

- It’s imperative for us to …

Ø Leading in to questions:

- Can I just ask you a few questions about your selling policy?

- Can I just move on to another question?

Ø Introducing the idea of generating options:

- It seems to me that there are a number of ways we could work together.

- I’d like to start by suggesting …

- How about trying..?

Ø Suggesting a move to the next stage in the process:

- Why don’t we go through each of these on more detail?

- At this stage I think we should look at each option in turn.

Ø Putting forward proposals:

- We propose that...

- Our proposal is …

- Maybe a better solution would be to …

- It could be a good idea to …

- Alternatively, we could …

Ø Linking offers and conditions:

- We couldn’t fund … unless …

- We could fund if …

- If you accepted … we could pay …

- That seems reasonable.

- We could agree to that.

- That should be all right.

- That seems to be rather high (low).

- That not exactly what we had in mind.

- I’m afraid that is unacceptable.

- That is out of the question.

Ø Introducing the summary:

- Perhaps I could just summarise our conclusions (agreements, decisions) so far.

- We have agreed to …

- As we agreed we’ll take care of (be responsible for, deal with) …

- There are some outstanding points.

- The question of … remains to be clarified.

Ø Checking:

- Have I covered everything?

- Is there anything else you’d like to add?

The words will help you to get the idea of the negotiation. Match the words with their definitions and Russian equivalents:

1. clarify 2. conduct a negotiation 3. price 4. turn down 5. finalize [‘fainelaiz] 6. (un)acceptable 7. terms of payment 8. quantity 9. precise [pri’sais] 10. commit 11. discount

A) скидка B) цена, стоимость C) (не)приемлемый D) сроки оплаты E) точный F) отклонять G) количество H) вести переговоры I) уточнять, разъяснять J) подытоживать K) высказывать окончательное мнение

1. an amount of money taken off the usual cost of smth 2. suitable 3. to reject or refuse to consider an offer 4. to become or make smth clearer or easier to understand 5. to give one’s opinion openly so that it is difficult to change 6. to direct or manage a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement 7. to put smth into its final form 8. exact; stated clearly and accurately 9. an amount of money for which smth may be bought or sold 10. conditions offered in an agreement of paying smth 11. an amount or number of smth

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