About this Course - Learn how to
- Plan, conduct, and document contract negotiations better and faster
- Prepare yourself and your team for successful negotiations
- Develop strategies and use tactics effectively
- Document negotiations to prevent problems later
- Apply best practices for conducting negotiations
- Create long-term successful business partners
Unleash your negotiation power today—before it’s too late. In this highly interactive course, the emphasis is on the process of negotiating the contract itself—the legal document that governs the business relationship between the parties. The course highlights the good and bad practices that business managers must be aware of when negotiating contracts. Using a process approach to building successful business relationships, the course teaches all the key considerations and steps involved in planning, conducting, and documenting contract negotiations. Real-world case studies will expose you to perspectives of both buyers and sellers.
Strategies, tactics, and counter tactics for improving contract negotiation skills are highly emphasized. Practical exercises will show you how solid analysis of business and project risks during business development can translate into successfully negotiated contracts. You will learn how to analyse terms and conditions, how to recognize potentially risky and unacceptable terms, and how to negotiate successful deals by overcoming obstacles. The course includes proven best practices used by successful companies worldwide.
Course Outline
Topics covered in this course include but are not limited to
1 Introduction to the Contract Negotiation Process
- Reviewing different negotiation approaches
- Mastering the key aspects for successful contract negotiations
- Techniques to get past “NO”
- Understanding the:
- Buyer’s negotiation objectives
- Seller’s negotiation objectives
- Learning the contract negotiation process
- 12 general rules for negotiations
PRACTICAL SESSION: Learn how to apply the 12 general rules of negotiations for effective contract negotiating.
2 Pre-negotiation Preparation for Contracts
- Overview of the 10-step process to prepare for commercial contract negotiations
- Learn how to prepare yourself and your team by looking at:
- Personal objectives
- Professional objectives
- Self-assessment
- Know the other party
- Set your objectives
- Prioritise your objectives
- Create options
- Select fair standards
- Basic principles of contracts:
- Offer
- Acceptance
- Agreement
- Select your strategy, tactics and counter tactics
- Develop a team negotiation plan and get approval
During this highly informative practical session you will acquire essential pre-negotiation preparation skills by learning how to develop a team negotiation plan and select a negotiation strategy, tactics and counter tactics.
3 Conducting Commercial Contract Negotiations
- Determine authority
- Prepare facilities
- Use of an agenda
- Team introductions
- Setting the right tone
- Exchanging information
- 3.7 Focusing on objectives
- 3.8 Using strategy
- Win-lose
- Win-win
- Joint problem-solving
- Selecting negotiation tactics
- Counter-tactics to be aware of:
- Delays
- Stonewalls
- Escalation
- Substitutions
- Attacks
- Diversions
- Giveaways
- Third-party
- Prolong
- Good guy/ bad guy
- Making counter offers
- Documenting your agreement
- Knowing when to close the deal
Master essential techniques to effectively conduct and document contract negotiations by participating in this highly informative practical session.
4 Post- Negotiation Actions: Preparing Negotiation Records/Memos
- Methods to prepare negotiation records/memos
- Skills to co-ordinate your documented understanding internally
- Effective techniques to communicate your documented understanding with the other party
- Learning how to draft the commercial contract
- Methods to obtain required reviews and approvals internally
- Submit the contract to the other party
- Making contract changes
- Reviewing the contract signing
- Develop a contract administration plan
- Document negotiations - lessons learnt
5 Special Considerations. Looking at cultural differences by understanding
- Translation issues
- Interpretation issues
- Time perceptions
- Non-verbal communications
- Best practices
6 Contract Negotiation Issues
- Identifying the contract type risks
- Negotiating the statement of work
- Analysing and discussing costs and price
- Negotiating the critical terms and conditions
- Contract change negotiations