It's hot. The smell of spices, tanned leather, flowers, mud and certain nuances of something decaying is still as intense as the first time you met it. you entered the SoukHowever, your sense of smell has already gotten used to it. Without knowing how, you end up haggling with a friendly local for some trinket. During the haggling he asks for an exorbitant amount and you respond with an amount far below what you are really willing to pay. And so, between fussing and exaggerated gestures of disagreement, both of you make concessions until there comes a moment when you reach an agreement that seems fair.
However, at the precise moment you leave the bazaar, a doubt assails you: –Should I have paid less?–. This is a memory that many people keep in their minds, and a demonstration, not only of the lack of knowledge about the concessions phase in particular, but about the general negotiation.
What does the concession in negotiation consist of?
Concession is possibly the phase of the negotiation that most people identify as the essence of it. Surely this is due to the theatricality that is usually given to this phase, the number of times it is used as a driving element in literary and cinematographic works, and the enormous emotional impact it produces on us when we are the protagonists of a "bargaining".
In a simplified way, we can define the concession as accept to some extent the arguments or requests made by the other party that oppose or reduce the position we defend or the demand we make. Sticking to this definition, we will not consider a concession something that the other person requests of us, but that does not negatively impact our expectations. Although we can use the other negotiator's confusion to our advantage, not correcting his mistake.
Whenever we face a negotiation we are aware that we are going to have to make different concessions to our initial position At this moment we are not interested in delving into the solidity or confidence we have in this until we reach an agreement. In the same way that we expect the other party to make concessions regarding their first approaches, for which we will use pressure, whether express or tacit, forceful or subtle. We must never forget that concession is the other side of pressure, with all that this implies.
If in a negotiation there is no no type of transfer by both parties, however minor it may be, we would not be facing a negotiation. It would simply be an imposition, regardless of whether it ends up being accepted or not, by someone who is in a position of weakness.
When is a concession fair?
Normally every negotiation is born as a consequence of the confluence of the needs of the negotiators. In some way, the needs of both parties can be satisfied, mitigated, or increase their chances of satisfaction. if we reach an agreement.
According to Otomar J. Bartos, “concessions will be fair, appropriate, when making them does not mean having to modify the expectations that we had at the beginning of the negotiation about what the final agreement would be”. And although this interpretation could be acceptable – especially if we understand it by applying only the concepts of LOA and MNS that we already saw in the previous article in this series on negotiation, entitled “Conflict in negotiation” –, I personally believe that it is not correct. everything complete.
Despite what Bartos claims, I have come to the conclusion that negotiation has limits within which both negotiators act and that are different for each of them. These limits are flexible and adapt as the negotiation develops., so a concession, which at first was unthinkable, can be perfectly rational and fair with the future of the negotiation. In short, agreement can only occur in the area where these limits converge at the same time.
What was discussed above can serve as a guide for us to never accept “no” as a definitive answer to our needs. Well, if we are able to modify the limits of the negotiation that our counterpart has, an initial “no” can become a final “yes”.
In order to determine the limits of our opponent's negotiation and ours, we must draw a quadrant in which we will represent the following:
- In it Edge of ordered (vertically) we will put the LOA at the top and the MNS at the bottom.
- In it abscissa axis (horizontal) we will place on the left side the cost of not reaching an agreement and on the right the risk of not reaching an agreement.
If we join the four resulting points we will have a quadrilateral that will represent the framework within which the agreement is possible for the negotiator. Outside of it, not only will the agreement not occur, but it will also be possible that the negotiation will break down if one of the parties tries to impose its limits.
We must not forget that every negotiation is a game of strategy and manipulation, the latter understood in a broad sense - not exclusively negative -, in which both parties try to modify the limits of the negotiation that the other party has, to make them fit in with yours, in order to achieve the most beneficial agreement possible.
Types of concessions
Another very important issue, which we must always keep in mind, is that not all concessions are equal, nor do they all have the same purpose. Therefore, it is crucial that we know the different types of concessions what we can do in a negotiation and the purpose with which we grant them.
For the sake of concretion, on this occasion I am going to refer only to five types of concessions, which can help us build the strategy and choose and manage the most effective tactics for our negotiation:
- Direct concessions: These are those concessions that coincide with the requests, expectations or strategy of the other party.
- Indirect concessions: These types of concessions do not coincide with what the other party has demanded from us, however, they satisfy some need, desire or interest of the negotiator or those they represent.
- Conditional concessions: That this type of concessions become effective is linked to a consideration on the part of the other or to the occurrence of certain circumstances, actions or results established at the time in which the conditioned concession is manifested.
- Positive concessions: We are referring on this occasion to those in which we give in or offer something that brings the other party closer to its objective.
- Negative concessions: These are those in which we retract what we have previously offered, so we go back to a previous position in the negotiation or even to the initial position. These types of negative concessions tend to occur more easily as the negotiation time increases.
As can be deduced from what we have learned in this article, the relationship and balance between concessions and pressures within any negotiation They are crucial for their correct development. That is why on another occasion we will delve into how to pressure effectively.
