The Art of Negotiation

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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

The Art of Negotiation

Postby Tavia on June 5th, 2016, 11:07 am

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4th Summer, 516AV.

“Negotiation is the art of compromise.”

Ever the dutiful student, Tavia wrote this down.

“This is done to avoid further conflict between two or more rival parties.”

Another scratching of her quill, another crisply written note.

“Of course, in reality negotiation is far less formal than this uptight definition. We have all negotiated at some point in our lives, but most likely when we’ve purchased something and that pig of a salesman is trying to charge us too much.”

Tavia was so busy writing down notes, that she missed the smattering of laughter that rippled through her classmates. For the first time, she looked up from her papers and inspected her peer group. They were a mixed bunch: there was a real variety in age, an even spread of the sexes and an eclectic mix of wealth. The class size was also significantly bigger than her politics class. Though this was hardly surprising: negotiation was a useable skill that applied to several crafts. Politics was a thing that barely interested the average man or woman in Zeltiva.

“Most of you, as I understand it, will be using the skills you learn here on your trade. Please, raise your hand if you’re a merchant.”

Thirty of the forty hands rose quickly in the air. Immediately the students began comparing their businesses in casual competition:

“Baker, you?”

“Blacksmith.”

“Dog trainer.”

“A fisherman you say? I’m a courier myself.”

Tavia kept her hands on the table and her lips sealed.

Their teacher nodded serenely, waited for silence to reign over the room once again, and then continued: “I am a trader myself. Or rather, I used to be. I trained as a cobbler as a boy, from my father’s own business. Eventually, we became quite successful and he decided to extend our business, to open another shop in the city. West Street, in fact.” He paused comically to allow for a spatter of impressed oohs and aahs from his fellow tradesmen and women. “But when it came to employing the good folk of Zeltiva, I realised that the average man and woman, those who had not grown up with a family business, had no clue how to negotiate with customers. That’s not to say they were rude, of course. But their customer service and ability to deal with clients was… less than impressive.

“So I began to give classes to my employees about how to negotiate and deal with customers. Fast forward fifteen years, and here I am. The cobbler business is still going strong, ran now by my daughter and her husband.

“Now I warn you. I am no scholar. To me, negotiation is not a thing you can learn by taking notes and studying them—”

Tavia, feeling she was being watched, looked up from her continuous note taking. Her cheeks flushed, and she slowly set the quill down. No sooner had it touched the table, though, did her fingers began to twitch. There was no doubt that her teacher knew what he was talking about of course, but to Tavia learning was all about taking notes and studying them afterwards. Not for the first time since she sat down in this classroom, she felt anxious about learning such a non-academic skill.

The teacher smiled kindly to Tavia, recognising the discomfort of a scholar in a room filled with practical types. “Don’t worry,” he said gently, “it’s a different style of learning but it really will be worth it at the end of the season, I promise. And there will be some writing in this course, I assure you.”

With that, he moved to the next part of the lesson. “The first thing to do when negotiating is to recognise what your partner – or rival – wants. This is crucial, and though it sounds simple, it’s all too easy for a discussion to twist away from the original point. In trades such as cobbling, you don’t want to be discussing the price of a pair of boots, but end up arguing over the meaning of life.”
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Tavia
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The Art of Negotiation

Postby Tavia on June 5th, 2016, 2:04 pm

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“At times, it won’t be entirely clear what your partner wants. For example, in debates over the meaning of life, your partner-cum-rival might want to convert you to their way of thinking, they might want to make you question your own beliefs, or they may simply want to piss you off.”

The class, Tavia included, chuckled.

“But in instances such as these, it’s helpful to consider how this debate started. As I said, it’s incredibly easy to start negotiating over one thing, but to get distracted over the countless other ways in which you and your partner differ. In this instance, always think back to how the discussion started. Were you arguing over who would buy the last loaf of bread, or who would wash the dishes next?

“Now, say you are discussing the price of a pair of boots. Your rival – a customer, in this instance – then begins to complain to you about the price of leather, and how she knows for a fact that the leather you made these shoes out of is actually incredibly cheap. How would you respond to this?”

Silence descended. Then, cautiously, the blonde-haired male in front of Tavia raised his hand.

“I would try to bring the conversation back to the shoes.”

“How?”

Silence once again. The blonde male withdrew his hand from the air and chuckled nervously. “Good question.” He murmured, and their teacher grinned.

“In reality, it’s an awkward thing to always bring the conversation back to the original topic. What can you say that isn’t rude? ‘Excuse me, but we were talking about shoes, not leather’? Or perhaps: ‘let’s get back to the shoes’. This might work once or twice in practice, but then you end up sounding like a madman who can only speak about a single topic.

“So, what would be the ideal way for you to bring back the focus of the discussion to the original topic?”

Tavia leaned back in her seat, chewing her bottom lip. She had heard such discussions and arguments in court before, when she had accompanied her supervisors on a case. Witnesses, defendants, prosecution and even the magistrates themselves weren’t immune from going off tandem. The topic of murder could quickly give way to the poor working conditions of whores, the lack of Wave Guard presence in some of the shadier parts of town.

But until now, Tavia had not realised how much of an art it could be to take lead of a defending case. She tried to imagine herself in court, defending a man accused of – what? Stealing shoes. Yes, an accused shoe thief. But in her imaginary court, the prosecuting cobbler kept bringing up the thief’s alcoholism. How would she bring the focus of the interrogation back to the original thief of a shoe?

I would bring back the topic of the theft. I’d ask how a man who is blind drunk is meant to even see the shoes he intends to steal, let alone pick them up and shove them down his top.

Tavia’s hand shot up before she could even stop herself.

“Ah, out scholar has a suggestion!” The comment was not unkind, perhaps even meant to be encouraging, but Tavia giggled sheepishly nonetheless.

“I would connect the two topics together. If a customer was complaining about the cheapness of leather, I would bring back the original topic – the price of the shoes – by mentioning other costs. Labour, tools, employees’ wages and the like. But I would make sure to finish on the shoes, to ensure the focus was on them and not the other costs.”
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The Art of Negotiation

Postby Tavia on June 5th, 2016, 3:33 pm

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Her professor nodded slowly, pursed his lips, and then said, “so you’ve got the topic of conversation back on the price of the pair of shoes. Well done! But now your customer outright says that she is not paying full price for them. Now what? You know exactly what she wants; the shoes. She in turn understands what you want; to sell the shoes, preferably as close to the ticket price as possible. And yet you are in a conflict with this woman, as you ultimately want two different things.

“This is the art of negotiation. It’s essentially compromise with words, but the aim is to come to a conclusion that is as beneficial for yourself as possible. However, in order to negotiate successfully, we need to understand the risks.”

The professor was pacing up and down the front of the room, whilst his students’ eyes followed him toing and froing. It struck Tavia just how well he captured the attention of so many individuals from such varied backgrounds. For a non-academic, he conveyed his meanings incredibly well.

I can see how this man is an effective negotiator, she mused as she watched him stride back to the far side of the room, but I wouldn’t trust myself to hold my ground against him.

“The risks are things that could easily go wrong in a negotiation. And to understand what the risks are, you need to pay attention to your partner, be it a client, customer or a political rival. In our example of the cobbler and the customer, what risks are there?”

“She might leave without buying the shoes!” Called out one eager student.

Their professor raised a hand and shook his head slowly, “not quite. That would be the outcome that we want to avoid. The risks are things that we learn about our partner during negotiations. For example, our customer wants shoes. We would therefore not suggest that she buy boots instead. Not without asking, anyway.”
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Tavia
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The Art of Negotiation

Postby Tavia on June 19th, 2016, 8:07 am

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Tavia considered this. The equivalent situation in her line of work, she guessed, would be bringing up potential information that could be used against her defendant. A past filled with abuse, previous signs of alcoholism… all things that any good defending attorney would want to keep hidden in most scenarios. When it came to negotiating a court outcome for a client, the main risk was bringing up unwanted information. But when selling shoes? Tavia had no idea.

After several more ticks of awkward silence had passed, the professor chuckled to himself and restarted his pacing. “It’s hard to think of something, isn’t it? That’s because when you engage in conversation, you need to harness as much information about your rival as you can. You need to work out whether they are sensitive, and if so what about. Do they look tired? If so, they might be emotional. If you said the wrong thing, you could risk this potential deal.

“All these things build the context of your discussion, and it is crucial for you to appreciate everything you can notice. In our example, for instance, we are the seller of shoes. The power is all in the hand of the client, and yet the whole point of negotiating is to find an outcome that is suitable for both parties. As a cobbler, we want to sell out shoes for as much as possible, but we also want to increase the chances of the customer coming back.

“So we have the context of who we are, and who our opponent is. So now we build on that. What is our customer wearing? Does she look like she could afford the full price of the shoes, or even a more expensive pair? Did she hurry into the store, like a madwoman who is under the pressure of time, or did she wander in leisurely? How does she speak? Is she fluent in Common, or does she only know the words ‘yes’, ‘no’, and ‘shoes’?”
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Tavia
court is in session
 
Posts: 37
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Joined roleplay: May 7th, 2016, 8:14 pm
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