Whether you’re collaborating or playing hardball, the more you know about the opposition, the better the deal you can get. Your ability to get the best deal depends on your ability to read other party’s must-haves, their pressure points, their best alternatives, their constraints. So why would you choose to negotiate with your eyes closed?
Studies have shown (Barbour, A. 1998) that the information flow between people is 7% verbal communication; 38% vocal (pitch, volume etc); and 55% through body language. Negotiating by e-mail means you miss out on 93% of the information you could get if you did it face to face, whilst doing it over the phone means you miss over half.
The flushed neck in response to a question, the flicker of a smile when a new price is mentioned, the raised voice of someone feeling the pressure – all of these are lost to you. And yet, increasingly I see buyers and sellers blindly dragging major negotiations out over literally months, via email. And the reasons?
1. Convenience. Unless it’s a mass mailing, an opening position, or simple low value transaction, a phone call is always quicker and a meeting always gets to a deal faster than an email. It may feel more convenient, but it’s certainly much less efficient.
2. Control. If you have the power and the patience to push through a deal without negotiating, this is a genuine reason to email. Otherwise it’s pure fallacy born out of:
3. Fear. The main reason people revert to email. Fear of conflict, of emotion, rejection, failure; fear of “giving something away”.
Email negotiation kills pace, innovation and any chance of rapid profit growth. How much negotiating is your team doing over email?
USE EMAIL: To set an agenda, share data or create a written record. When you want to signal there is no room to negotiate.
DON’T USE EMAIL: When you want to build a relationship, maximise the potential value of a deal, and quickly and efficiently get to a close.