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Question & Answer
Home > Resources > Q & A

The best approach to questioning in negotiation

Wey Daw-ming Asks:

What is the best approach to questioning in negotiation?

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Answer:

Questions are the negotiator’s best friends and when effectively used can lead to shortening the negotiation cycle & enhancing the overall quality of our deal making.

Generally speaking there are two main types of questions and four categories of questioning. We can ask interrogative questions: ‘What is the most important issue for you?’ to identify issues & concerns and we can ask nurturing questions: ‘Why is this the most important issue for you?’ to further probe for interests. To understand the drivers behind any negotiation position it is most useful to ask both interrogative & nurturing questions covering the four pillars of negotiation:

  1. Vision – e.g.:
    • What are the desired outcomes for this negotiation?
    • How does it tie in strategically & tactically in line with the individual or organisation’s vision?
  2. Value – e.g.:
    • What are the key objectives for this negotiation?
    • What benchmarks are being used?
  3. Process – e.g.:
    • How will the deal be executed?
    • How will we manage the negotiation process (agenda’s, debriefings, minutes, concession planning etc.)
  4. Relationships – e.g.:
    • What are the relationship goals of all parties?
    • How can we create a negotiation climate to support the negotiation strategy?

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The Negotiation Academy (TNA) – http://www.negotiationeurope.com - is a specialist business negotiation management consultancy headquartered in London. Committed to delivering both best and leading practice business negotiation solutions, TNA collaborates with clients to instil a world class negotiation capability. With deep industry experience in several market sectors, global resources and a proven track record, TNA is uniquely positioned to assist clients to avoid the losses associated with sub optimal negotiations. TNA has a core competency in sales negotiation training , purchasing negotiation training and executive negotiation training (mergers & acquisitions negotiation training, asset management negotiation training, corporate finance negotiation training etc.)