English Negotiation

During this roleplay, I played the role of the buyer and Mathilde was the seller. I was pretty much more confident than in the prior negotiations. I think that there is two reasons that can explain this new feeling. The first reason is related to the behavior of Mathilde. Her nonverbal communication was very positive. I am very sensitive person, unfortunately I am often impacted by the vibes of my partners. During this negotiation, the impact was positive. I noticed that Mathilde was showing to me very positive signs and she seemed to be open to the negotiation. For sure, her BATNA was precisely defined and accepted by herself. Furthermore, she told me that she was convinced by the corporate culture of her company. The second reason of my trustbuilding was associated to my understanding of the Four Keys Concept. I had the feeling to be more determinated than Mathilde, actually. My Zone of Possible Agreement was totaly clear. However, I think that my BATNA was not rigorous enough. I

BATNA is a concept developed by Roger Fisheer and William Ury, this acronym stands for Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. The text teaches us that no negotiation method is able to completely overcome substantial differences in power. However, there are ways to protect the weaker party against a poor agreement, and to help the weaker party make the most of their assets. In many situations, we can note that negotiators will establish a "bottom line" in an attempt to protect themselves against a poor agreement. The bottom line is what the party anticipates as the worst acceptable outcome. Negotiators decide in advance of actual negotiations to reject any proposal below that line. Because the bottom line figure is decided upon in advance of discussions, the figure may be arbitrary or unrealistic. The watchword is « always know our BATNA » before entering any negotiations. Thanks to this, we will have options and our level of risk-taking will be less important. C