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PM Forum - Frankfurt
Donkey’s Hind Legs and the Perils of Negotiating
"Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." These were the words of John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address in February 1961.
It is presumably a tenet that Agnes Kunkel would uphold. Formerly of McKinsey, the M&A specialist coaches senior executives on the art of negotiating. She runs a course ‘Negotiating on Stage’ within the Executive Education Programme of the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. She has also published a book on the subject.
Displaying no ‘fear’ whatsoever, PM Forum members gathered at the Frankfurt offices of Hengeler Mueller to witness Agnes Kunkel illustrating the dos and donts of negotiating. After all, is it not time that marketing professionals try and beat lawyers at their own game?
As Dr. Kunkel states in the introduction to her book: "Negotiating is a cultural technique of which you should have a good command." The book sets out seven stages in the negotiation process: preparation, greeting, information exchange, concession phase, agreement, taking leave, and follow-up. Each stage contains important dos and donts that, if adhered to, can make negotiating successful.
Critical stages are information exchange and concession phase. Quality negotiating time can be spent and a level playing field (eyeball to eyeball) established. Significant at this stage is "listening into" your opposite number. Successful negotiating demands that you do not talk the hind legs off the proverbial but instead nurture a dialogue. An effective method is asking questions, also an ideal way of gleaning the information you require. Only once a stable negotiating platform has been built is it opportune to bring your own needs into the equation.
With the aid of clips from Hollywood films such as The Godfather and Erin Brockovich, Agnes Kunkel illustrated this theory in practice. In one clip, where the Godfather and his lawyer are in negotiation, there is patently no level playing field and, instead of "listening into", the lawyer talks the hind legs off the Godfather. Even then, he does not convince the Godfather of the benefits of his proposal. In another clip, by way of comparison, Erin Brockovich does achieve her objectives by ensuring a level playing field – she goes eyeball to eyeball with her lawyer boss. In doing so, she is ideally placed to appeal to his nature both as a litigation lawyer and law-abiding citizen. He allows himself to be convinced of the benefits of taking legal action against a company involved in an environmental scandal.
Negotiating skills are also invaluable to marketing professionals who have to negotiate with lawyers. The key, in summary, is to determine what level of negotiating power you possess, demonstrate competency by "managing the room", and allow the lawyer to "experience" the advantages of what you are proposing.
As the cartoonist, Ashleigh Brilliant, has been quoted as saying: "If you can’t go around it, over it, or through it, you had better negotiate with it." Even with lawyers.
Keith Bain
Hengeler Muller
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