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Nearly all negotiators greatly underestimate the time required to plan for any business negotiation even though this is a key part of business negotiation best practice.

Using your negotiation skills to analyse the context is a great place to start preparing for negotiations.

The key elements to think about are:

- What is the nature of the transaction in terms of risks involved, the level of expenditure and the complexity of the transaction?

- Competitive analysis: What is the nature of the market and what alternatives do our counterparties have available? We will deal with a sole supplier differently than those in a competitive market.

- Is it a single deal or should we consider securing a long-term positive association that creates alternatives for future business?

- Have we had any dealings with our counterparty in the past and what is their most likely method to doing business?

- How capable are the negotiators on the other side of the table?

- What cultures will be present and what are the local practices?

- Who are all the groups & individuals concerned in the transaction and what is the decision process? A diversified style is required as final decision makers will certainly be interested in Return on Investment and augmented revenues & margins. The final user who looks for better productivity and efficiency regard the financial elements almost totally immaterial.

Almost any negotiation training course will highlight the importance of setting formal deal objectives.

If we fail to prepare and rank our deal objectives we put ourselves at risk of being manipulated and/or ending with a less agreeable conclusion. Whether you are engaged in negotiation on the sales or purchasing side, think about the following factors when planning for a negotiation:

- Price and payment, Key obligations, Delivery, Warranties, Intellectual property and Risks.

Price and Payments: The competition and the difficulty of most business transactions require finding methods to create extra value and to move negotiation from haggling to mutually beneficial and creative joint problem solving. Professional buyers are not charged with buying the most affordable solution but rather with securing their organisations with the cheapest total cost of ownership, which is made up of things like:

- Acquisition costs, Service costs, The cost of use, Training costs, Supplier performance criteria, Delivery, Quality and Customer Support. (These concepts are covered in most purchasing training programmes).

If we are able to reduce our counterpart's costs in the whole life cycle of the product, solution or service and simultaneously offer value for money, we are in a better position to find agreement.

Key Obligations: Ensure your product and services are defined and show your priorities. Include all the relevant quantities and specifications.

Delivery: How important are the delivery timelines and what happens if the delivery doesn't take place as agreed?

Warranties: In order to preserve trust and credibility make sure that you can live with any promises.

Intellectual property: Carefully negotiate IP ownership rights and consider the following elements:

- Who is footing the bill for the Research and Development?

- Could the product development be used by competitors to your disadvantage if you don' t own the IP? How can you stop competitors to use the same IP?

Risks: The best way to manage risks is to include the factors in a contract. Cultural consideration is very important. In Asian countries the goal of negotiation is not a signed contract. In China, unforeseen events are settled through the relationship.

Analysing the above elements are crucial in preparing Concession Strategies that will help you to leverage maximum value from trades and in planning meetings optimally.

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