Negotiating Is Not Always A Once-Off Event

I was coming out of a hotel last week when I came across this scene in the parking lot. Just look at it – how did they park like that?! Now you may think, “well, the lot was full and that’s just the way it goes”.

But actually, the parking lot was half-full [for you pessimists out there, it was half-empty]!

It’s a picture that doesn’t need words. So how did it come to pass that no one was willing to budge an inch? I’ve no idea, but it does remind me of negotiating; well, how not to, I guess.

To me, negotiation in this business is all about building relationships. Unlike buying a car, when we negotiate contracts for our localization services, it rarely happens in isolation; we will work with Company A or Company B, etc. on a continuous basis - and probably with the same people with whom we negotiated in the first place. So if we effect bad relationships with these people, it can come back to haunt us at a later time.

Essentially, negotiating will involve a series of events and therefore we will want those events to be good ones for both sides. Now, take the guys in the cars; this hotel they parked in is a very popular one, so the chances are high that they will be back again sometime in the future.

Will they have learnt from this visit? Hopefully.

A series of good events/negotiations allows us to build relationships with companies we do business with; part of the negotiation process involves us [and them] looking at the bigger picture; can we come to an agreement that will benefit the business of both sides? And that does involve now and again, some creativity and flexibility. Which is fine, we love flexibility!

In this case, all it required was for one driver to figure out how their actions would affect the others around them. But I would suspect this wasn’t up for negotiation…

Now, talking of flexibility, it’s time to go squeeze into my car

Be Sociable, Share!

•