In this Business English Podcast episode, we’ll study how to open a traditional commercial negotiation between buyer and seller. We’ll focus on creating goodwill, starting off, setting ground rules, suggesting an agenda and exploring possibilities.

We’ll be listening to a telephone conversation between Tony, a supplier of building materials, and Paul, a purchasing manager for a large construction company in Canada. Paul is buying materials for a harbor project. A harbor is a protected area of water where boats dock, or park. For this project, Paul needs to buy anchor bolts. These bolts are the thick steel screws that are embedded or buried in concrete to support or anchor structural steel columns. Structural columns refer to the steel frameworks that hold buildings up.
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This podcast is part of an ongoing series on negotiation skills for ESL. Throughout the series we’ll follow two scenarios: The first will look at a more strategic style of negotiation involving a proposed merger between two telecoms providers and the second will focus on a simpler, bargaining style negotiation between a purchasing agent and an industrial supplier.

In this episode, based on the first scenario, we’re going to look at the importance of building relationships between both parties. In negotiation, establishing a good relationship based on trust makes it possible to jointly search for creative solutions, to overcome blockage and even to turn conflict into a productive force.
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This is the second in a two-part advanced business English series on negotiation strategy.

In the first episode, management consultant Bryan Fields discussed the basics of making a deal. We learned how to avoid some top common mistakes and we reviewed important vocabulary, such as BATNA, bottom line, bargaining chip, win-win, and zone of possible agreement.
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