Sometimes internal negotiations can feel like herding cats.
Tom from procurement wants a lower price. Tim from IT needs a longer timeline. Bob the project manager wants strict adherence to the schedule. Greg from HR wants full and complete compliance. Derek from finance needs the SOW. Henry from operations wants clear procedures. And you, the head of sales, simply want to close the deal.
Even though you all work for one company and are technically a single team, everyone has different, and often conflicting, objectives. To further exacerbate the issue, the heads of these departments are often evaluated and compensated on completely different outcomes.
Internal negotiations can often be trickier than external negotiations, and this might make you feel like you either need some political savvy or Jedi mind tricks to get the job done.
Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as simply moving the world into place at a small wave of your hand. However, by grounding your next moves in behavior and neuroscience, you’ll be able to manage the tension between all internal parties in time to get the external party to sign on the dotted line.
Internal negotiations tend to be trickier than external because internal parties tend to operate on the false assumption that even though you all have the same goal, everyone also wants the same thing. The fact of the matter is that we are all individuals and want different things.
This is largely why we don’t necessarily correlate our personal interests with the big picture success for the employer. After all, would you not hesitate to push an agreement forward if you knew it would impact you negatively in the end?
We have different ways of being rewarded. Tom from procurement might be evaluated based on pricing. Tim from IT might be judged on meeting deadlines. You, the sales rep, might be rewarded for the size and length of the contract.
The quagmire of the situation is that even though you have different reward systems, you all need each other in order to succeed. No silo within an organization can operate alone, whether you like it or not. All of the parts equal the whole; therefore, the stakes are higher.
This is why it’s best to have everyone aligned and thinking as a team. No one wants to be ostracized and forced into agreements that impact their livelihood negatively. You may see your coworkers every day and work together on hundreds of deals over the years.
Another major reason internal negotiations become entangled is that we don’t plan together for external negotiations. This makes coming up with creative ideas much harder when it’s crunch time. Give-and-take often requires some forethought, and forcing ideas in the tension of an internal meeting can be next to impossible.
Sometimes internal negotiation mastery can be as simple as making the varying parties like you. Just as in external sales, it really pays off to be persuasive. The most obvious way to get your team to like you is being a likable person who genuinely flourishes in the company of others, regardless of whether you want or don’t want to be lifelong friends with them.
Being likable comes naturally to many but can also be learned with practice. Here are three ways to build rapport with your team:
Internal negotiations can be hard, and even if you master rapport-building, you’ll inevitably come across some more complex situations. However, by making use of the strategies above, you’ll be able to find more ways to solve many of the issues that arise with internal teams so you can get back to doing what you love – closing deals.
RED BEAR Negotiation Company is a global performance improvement firm dedicated to maximizing the profitability of the agreements negotiated with customers, suppliers, partners, and colleagues. If you’re interested in empowering your team with world-class negotiation skills, contact us or click here for more information.