Negotiating by Email Plan the Challenges of Conducting Negotiations by Email Improve Your Negotiations By Email

14. Structure Your Emails
In our Time Management Training, we see so many examples of emails that are just written. No thought on structure, or making it easier for the reader to read. Long paragraphs of text. To the reader, hard to read and just waffle.
Structure your emails using best practice written communication skills- see here for more. Use paragraphs with headings. The paragraph headings are in bold and the headings add value. Make it easy for the Buyer to read and understand.
Effective written communication and properly structured emails are key to negotiation success
This slide has been taken from our Webinar: ’21 Mistakes You Make When Writing Emails – How to Write Emails That Get You What You Want’. The slide above shows how to write the original bad email well. Please let us know if you would like to book this paid webinar.
15. Describe How You Are Feeling
As British and males we are less likely to do this. Maybe we should. For everyone else this is possibly easier.
You could tell the other party how you are feeling. ‘This negotiation is frustrating me because we are getting nowhere. Here’s how I suggest we nail this one…’, or ‘I’m feeling disappointed that you and I can not find a mutually beneficial outcome. We are both smart people. I’m sure we can do this with a little more exploration’.
16. Avoid Crack Cocaine
Absolutely avoid e-auctions, the ‘crack cocaine’ of negotiating. The whole deck is weighted towards them because they make the rules. Negotiate not to negotiate through e-auctions. To avoid getting trapped into an e-auction just calmly explain that an e-auction will not allow you to bring all the added value to the table that you possess. Make them think they will miss out on value and profit if they go with a blunt e-auction process. Alternatively and risky – just refuse to take part!
An Example:
‘We’d like to invite you to an e-auction for 5000 tonnes of product X’.
Your reply: ‘We regret we cannot enter a bid into your e-portal as there is no field for the special volume 25% deal we have available or the new exclusive UK variety we have grown to offset any post Brexit tariffs. However, we suggest a very brief meeting at a time and place of your choosing for us to explain how we can add value to your produce business. We estimate that we can make you £x in 12 months’.