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Monday, 5 December 2011

Basic Training for Winning Business Negotiation

By Dharius Jennar


The United States government is regulated by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which establishes current rules and regulations for acquiring goods and services. The FAR covers everything federal staff needs to buy successfully and legally on behalf of the government.

The FAR is much like an instruction manual for everything you always wanted to know about partnering with the government. In fact, instructions are included in FAR Part 15-Contracting by Negotiation- that federal staff must learn as part of their training requirements. Staff training requirements include becoming certified to represent the government's best interests for purchases. The information is available to the public, and applies across all commerce sectors.

The Defense Acquisition University has a wealth of commerce information online that anyone can access. Its pricing guidelines cover eight chapters about negotiating. The online manual covers the exchange process and how to prepare for negotiating in detail. A special chapter is dedicated to how to negotiate when there is no competition.

Nonverbal communication also has a whole chapter devoted to it, as body language is part of the whole process. Ten rules for successful bargaining are provided, along with tactics for better bargaining.

The process of negotiating is a common commercial practice during decision-making. It can avoid disputes and lead to better partnerships. Commerce typically entails developing objectives. These objectives will help with developing a negotiation plan.

Just as in a commerce plan, assessing strengths, opportunities, threats and weaknesses of all parties is part of bargaining. Conducting a market profile, including products, services and vendors, helps develop competitive but realistic objectives. This can also help with establishing priorities as well as which elements involved in the negotiation are more or less important than others. The lesser priorities can become trade-offs.

Software tools such as spreadsheets and word processors can be useful in establishing key elements, background, team collaboration, and talking points during discussions. These tools can also archive progress and help with strategy. Activating the edit tracking features of software can streamline the management of negotiation. An international standard practice is to include the current date of changes when renaming subsequent documentation. A common format is to use the numeric version of month, day and year, separated by periods.

The schedule, price, type of contract, technical requirements, or other proposed terms can be part of the bargaining process. Trade-offs in requirements may get the best product or service for the buyer without requiring a custom solution. Custom products or services from sellers drive up their prices, which are passed on. A best practice during business negotiations is to focus on making the final deal the best value for all parties involved. The objectives should focus on meeting requirements that are allowable, allocable, and come at a fair and reasonable price.




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