The Negotiation Guru

I cannot stress further the importance of building rapport. Today, I was asked to negotiate with a food vendor. My organization is having a Halloween party this Saturday. We have been getting pizzas and hoagies for all our events. This time round, we decided to try Chinese food.

Yes, that means I will have to negotiate against a Chinese (not a favorite race to negotiate against – poll done).

What did I do to gain such success in my negotiations? By building rapport.

The moment I was introduced to the owner, a lady, I built rapport immediately. I spoke her language (literally and figuratively).  We corresponded in Chinese (again, not a favorite language of mine).  I introduced myself and told her the purpose of my visit. There were many tools that I used during the entire negotiation. But what really nailed it, was the rapport we had. She was all smiley after we closed the deal. It was a true win-win-win situation. She wins, I win and my boss wins. He gets to spend the money I save for him on booze.

 Everyone ends up winning. I love my job.