Marketing Is Really A Part Of Every Negotiation

Keep in mind that to get the deal that you want, you're going to have to include some marketing
Keep in mind that to get the deal that you want, you’re going to have to include some marketing
Image Credit: Dennis Jarvis

In most firms, the processes of negotiating is generally considered to be part of the sales arm of the company. However, if you want to be able to reach the best deals with the other side of the table it probably won’t be as a result of the negotiation styles or negotiating techniques that you use. Maybe you have this all wrong. Perhaps a better way to think about negotiating is to view it as being a part of the marketing department. Let’s take a look and see what the benefits of doing this might be.

Why Negotiating Should Be Part Of The Marketing Department

During any negotiation, the other side is going to be asking you for things that you don’t want to give them. The most basic of these is often a lower price on whatever is being discussed. When this happens you are going to be in a bit of a bind – there is a very good chance that your negotiation is going to end up in a deadlock.

One way around this issue is going to be for you to start to introduce some marketing benefits into the negotiation. You need to take a step back from the negotiations and think about what you’d really like to get out of the negotiations. With other side focusing almost exclusively on a small set of issues that are on the table, the door has been opened for you to bring a number of other issues to the table.

The fact that the other side is so intent on getting their way on a few issues means that you can bring a large set of extra concessions to the table that you can exchange with the other side in order for making progress on the issues that they care about. There is a very good chance that the other side will pay very little attention to these marketing issues which should work out well for you.

How Marketing Can Make A Negotiation More Flexible

What your use of a marketing mindset can do for your next negotiation is to introduce some needed flexibility into the negotiations. What all too many negotiators don’t realize about the final deal that can be reached is that how flexible you are may have a bigger impact on the deal that you walk away with than some of the other core issues, such as price.

The marketing aspects of a negotiation are even more important depending on who you are negating with. Specifically, if you are being asked to market something for the other party or if you are trying to get them to market something for you then marketing issues may play a key role in the negotiations.

What this means for you is that you are going to have to keep your eyes open during the negotiation. You’ll have to be paying very close attention to each detail of the negotiation. Keep in mind that as a negotiator you are always going to be called on to market both yourself and your ideas.

What All Of This Means For You

The goal of any principled negotiation is to reach an agreement with the other side of the table. All too often we tend to take a “sales” approach to doing this and focus on the details of the deal that we’re trying to land. However, it turns out that if we can step back for a moment and try to consider ourselves as being a part of the marketing department, then we may discover that we’re able to create better deals for everyone.

What we need to realize during a negotiation is that the other side may be focused on just a few issues. If this is the case, then this opens a door of opportunity for us to negotiate all sorts of additional concessions in exchange for our willingness to bend just a little bit on the issues that matter the most to the other side. Our ability to work some marketing into the negotiations will provide us with more flexibility and may allow us to reach a better deal than we originally though was possible.

Thinking in marketing terms instead of just sales terms can transform our next negotiation. Instead of getting stuck on a particular issue, we can see the bigger picture. This will allow us to use the issues that are important to the other side in order to get the things that we need out of the negotiations. Perhaps being in marketing won’t be so bad after all…!

– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Negotiating Skills™

Question For You: How many additional marketing items do you think that you could possible ask for during a negotaiton?

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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Our goal when entering into a negotiation with anyone is to be able to walk away with the best deal possible. Just exactly how to get from the beginning of a negotiation to that deal no matter what negotiation styles or negotiating techniques are being used is what we don’t always understand. This is exactly where being flexible comes into play.