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27 Principles of Negotiating with a Meeting

Facility

Feb 1, 2003 12:00 PM, RCM Staff Report

Basics to Keep in Mind

If you ask for something before a contract is signed, it's called “negotiating.” If you ask forsomething after a contract is signed, it's called “begging.” It's better to be a good negotiatorthan an expert beggar.From negotiator Chester Karras: “You don't get what you deserve, you get what younegotiate.”From motivational expert Zig Ziglar: “You can get anything in life, if you help enough otherpeople get what they want.”Everything is negotiable, but everything has a price.Quoted prices are invitations to buy, but not statements of value.

Important Fundamentals

Terms are just as important as dollars. Many people focus on rates, dates, and space (thebig three of meeting planning), but the other fine print — such as liability and attrition — canhave just as much importance. These things will translate into dollars.

1.

Negotiate at the proper authority level. Negotiate with the person who can say “yes.” Don'tlet your negotiation get lost in the translation. You don't want to have to negotiate it morethan once. Ask to negotiate with someone who has the authority to go “off the script” or therate card. Refuse to negotiate with someone who doesn't have that authority.

2.

If you want something, ask for it. Good negotiators do not put their best terms on the tablefirst.

3.

Focus on the relationship. It's important that the relationship is still there once you'rethrough with the negotiations. You don't want to get to the end of an agreement and neverwant to see each other again.

4.

The Four Unwritten Rules

In every negotiation, there are four unwritten variables. All exist in every negotiation, whether or notyou know or understand that.

Power

This is the ability to get the other side to do things in the way you see favorable. The top two

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power sources are competition and the printed word. If a hotel knows that four other hotels intown want your business, then that hotel likely will want your business, too. Hotels play thatgame, too. They try to get more than one group interested in the hotel. And remember:Always question the printed word. Printed rates are not final rates.

Time

Ninety percent of the negotiating happens in the last 10 percent of the time allotted.Negotiating will go on forever unless one side imposes a deadline. The corollary is that timeworks against the person who doesn't have it. Never reveal your real deadline, and nevernegotiate when you're in a hurry.

2.

Knowledge

Knowledge is a combination of expertise and information-gathering regarding the wants andneeds of the other side. How and when is the person you're dealing with evaluated? Howexperienced is the person? What's the hotel's average daily rate, its peak season, and does ithave other customers who want the same dates?

3.

Leverage

Leverage is your ability to get the hotel to want your business and to give you favorableterms.

4.

Negotiating Gambits

Beginning Gambits occur at the start of negotiations.

The Flinch

Most religious meeting planners are born with this: the ability to express shock and dismay atwhat the other side is presenting. This technique forces the other side to adjust.

1.

Feel/Felt/Found Technique

This is a way of acknowledging another person's feelings without giving any ground. It's alsoa way to disagree without being disagreeable. Here's the script: “I understand how you feel.Others have felt the same way, but when they have found out more about us, they havecome around.”

2.

First Offers

The general rule is to never accept the first offer.

3.

The Vise

The purpose of the vise is to squeeze the price range up or down in your favor. Whensomeone names a price, you say: “You'll have to do better than that.” But be prepared for theresponse: “How much better do I have to do?”

4.

Middle Gambits occur during the middle of negotiations, the point at which most negotiationsbegin to stall. Middle gambits are used to keep things going, assuming that you want to dobusiness with this party. There are two basic techniques.

The Trade-Off

Never give a concession without getting a concession. This is the secret to keeping a

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negotiation balanced. It keeps the other side from nibbling you to death. They know they'llhave to give up something for everything they get.

The Set-Aside

When you're deadlocked on an issue, set it aside and come back to it after you've reachedagreement on the easier issues. Why leave the toughest issues for last? Because by the endof negotiations, the process has momentum and both sides will have the motivation to beflexible.

2.

Ending Gambits are the end games.

BATNA

When you reach the end and are asking yourself if you should go through with what you'venegotiated, ask yourself: “What's my Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement?”

1.

The Walk-Away

Your ability to negotiate is tied to your ability to walk away from the deal. This is why you wantto give yourself options.

2.

This article was adapted from a tutorial given at a past RCMA conference by John Foster, III, a

lawyer with Foster, Jensen & Gully LLC and a frequent RCMA speaker.

COMPLIMENTS of the Hotel

Hotels normally calculate complimentary meeting space based on the percentage of rooms that a

group is using.

For example, if a group is taking 30 percent of the hotel's rooms, then they're entitled to 30 percent

of the hotel's meeting space on a complimentary basis. In this example, if your group needs 70

percent of a hotel's meeting rooms, then your rooms-to-meetings ratio is out of whack. They won't

say this to you directly, but the hotels will refer to you as a “space hog.”

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