Some Notes on Negotiating

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Negotiations may become emotional. You may find your Russian negotiator banging his or her fist on the table or leaving the room. Accept such tactics with patience and calmness. They are designed to make it difficult for you to concentrate.

Russian negotiating teams are often made up of experienced managers whose style can be like a game of chess, with moves planned in advanced. Wanting to make compromises may be seen as a sign of weakness.

Distinguish between your behavior inside and outside the negotiations. Impatience, toughness and emotion during the negotiations should be met with calmness, patience and consistency. Outside the negotiating process you can show affection, and personal sympathy.

As well as being formal, negotiations are direct. German managers speak their mind. They place great weight on the clarity of the subject matter and get to the point quickly.

Excessive enthusiasm or compliments are rare in German business. You should give a thorough and detailed presentation, with an emphasis on objective information, such as your company’s history, rather than on clever visuals or marketing tricks. Prepare thoroughly before the negotiation and be sure to make your position clear during the opening stage of the talks, as well as during their exploratory phases. Avoid interrupting, unless you have an urgent question about the presentation.

Communicating is a natural talent of Americans. When negotiating partners meet, the emphasis is on small talks and smiling. There is liberal use of a sense of humor that is more direct than it is in the UK. Informality is a rule. Business partners do not use their academic titles on their business cards. Sandwiches and drinks in plastic or boxes are served during conferences.

This pleasant attitude continues in the negotiation itself. US negotiators usually attach little importance to status, title, formalities and protocol. They communicate in informal and direct manner on a first- name basis. Their manner is relaxed and casual.

The attitude “time is money” has more influence on business communication in the US than it does anywhere else. Developing a personal relationship with the business partner is not as important as getting results.

At the start of the negotiations you might want to decide whether you need interpreters. You should have documentation available in Spanish. Business cards should carry details in Spanish and English.

During the negotiations your counterparts may interrupt each other, or even you. It is quite common in Spain for this to happen in the middle of the sentence. For several people to talk at the same time is accepted in Latin cultures, but is considered rather unusual in Northern Europe.

The discussion is likely to be lively. In negotiations, Spanish business people rely on quick thinking and spontaneous ideas rather than careful preparation. It may appear that everybody is trying to put his or her point across at once. That can make negotiations in Spain intense and lengthy, but also enjoyably creative.