Communication between people is never perfect. Even with the people closest to us, who you might think we can understand very well, there is miscommunication. Sometimes we don’t hear things correctly, or we don’t hear them at all, and sometimes people don’t express ideas precisely. That’s enough to complicate the situation, but then we can throw in implied meaning and our own understanding of what’s being said indirectly. But have no fear. There are ways to work though the minefield of communication and make everything clear. And that’s exactly what we’ll look at today: clarifying what people have said.
Welcome back to Skills 360 for today’s lesson on how to improve your communication skills.
We spend a lot of time looking at different ways that you can make other people understand your ideas. But what about your ability to make sure you understand what other people are saying? Some people say that there’s a good reason we have two ears but one mouth: because we should spend twice as much time listening as we do speaking. And business leaders have emphasized the importance of good listening skills as the foundation of good communication.
Negotiating a good partnership requires the right balance of determination and compromise. You lay out your opening position and try to get as much as you can out of the deal. But you have to accept that you can’t get everything you want. You need to find common ground and reach a satisfying agreement. And that takes skill.
But like all skills, negotiation is something you can learn. And today we’ll look at several techniques for reaching agreement, including easing off an aggressive position, proposing an exchange, and making a counterproposal. We’ll also cover how to propose a compromise and summarize areas of agreement.
In the dialog, you’ll hear Mike and Lisa negotiating a strategic partnership. Mike represents a US auto parts company called Sigma, while Lisa is leading the negotiation for NVP, a Japanese distributor. Together, they’re trying to work out a deal for NVP to distribute Sigma’s products in Asia.
Listening Questions
1. What does Lisa initially propose as an exchange?
2. What does Mike propose to offset the costs of buying out their Chinese partner?
3. What is the final compromise on staffing for the deal?
Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on strategic negotiations. This is actually the third part in our ongoing series on advanced negotiations and follows on from what we covered in BEP 241 and 242.
Business is a competitive game, but companies don’t always have to work against each other. Sometimes they work with each other to form strategic partnerships. By combining forces they can often make more money than they would working alone.
But forming a good partnership isn’t easy. It involves getting together and working out an arrangement that makes sense for both parties. And that means both companies are going to have to give something to get something. This give and take is established in the strategic negotiation, which is what we’ll look at today. We’ll cover some useful techniques for negotiations, including laying out an opening position, presenting a counter position, and emphasizing a deal breaker. We’ll also cover how to use strategic tentativeness and make a strategic threat.
As you may remember, the discussion centers around a US auto parts company called Sigma and NVP, a Japanese distributor, who are trying to establish a strategic partnership. Previously, we heard Mike from Sigma map out a negotiating position with his colleagues back in the US. Now he’s going to call talk to Lisa, who is the lead negotiator for NVP. Through this negotiation, Mike and Lisa are trying to work out a deal for NVP to distribute Sigma’s products in Asia.
One thing you’ll notice is that Lisa is a non-native English speaker with an Asian accent. As a regular listener, you’ll know we like to bring you a variety of spoken accents, because that’s what international business sounds like these days. And perhaps just as important as listening to different native accents, is listening to non-native accents. After all, you may often find that the person on the other end of the phone or across the meeting table is a non-native speaker of English just like you! Let us know what you think by posting a comment on the site.
Listening Questions
1. What part of the deal does Lisa emphasize is essential for her company?
2. Which aspects of business does Mike want to share costs on?
3. What does Mike say at the end of the dialog that might worry Lisa?
In this Business English Vocabulary lesson, we’ll look at activities related to search engine marketing, or SEM.
Companies use SEO, or search engine optimization, to improve a web page’s SERP position. This involves activities such as link building as well as on-page optimization, in which advertisers use keywords to attract search engines. Accepted approaches to SEO are referred to as White Hat SEO and attempts to trick search engines are called Black Hat SEO.
