BazermanMoore

162 Chapter 9: Making Rational Decisions in Negotiations
Ask Questions
Full information sharing will not always be to your advantage. You may have some information
that will work against you if the other party obtains it; similarly, the other
party also may be unwilling to fully disclose confidential information. What can you do?
Ask questions! Most people have a tendency to see negotiating primarily as an opportunity
to influence the other party. As a result, most of us do more talking than listening.
Even when the other side is talking, we concentrate on what we are going to say next
rather than on listening for new information. This persuasion process is the basis of
most sales training and assists the other party in collecting information from you. In
negotiation, however, your goal must be to understand the other party’s interests as
well as possible.
By asking questions, you increase the likelihood of learning critical information
that will allow you to find wise trades. Negotiators often fail to ask questions because
they assume the other party will not answer them. While there is no guarantee
that the other side will answer your questions, they are far more likely to answer
if you ask questions than if you don’t. Of course, it is usually not very helpful to ask
the other party to tell you their reservation price; you are unlikely to get a useful
response. However, there are important questions that they are much more likely
to answer. For example:
‘‘How are you going to use our products?’’
‘‘What would an ideal supplier do to make its products attractive to you?’’
‘‘How can we make our offer better than that of our competitor?’’
Too often, negotiators do not ask such questions because they are too busy trying to
persuade the other side that their products and services are wonderful. The key to the
chief purchasing officer solving the procurement problem earlier in the chapter was his
insight to ask the European counterpart ‘‘why’’ when his colleagues had failed to do so.
Asking questions and listening actively are the keys to collecting important new
information from the other side. Before you start to negotiate, assess the information
that you need from the other side, then ask the questions necessary to collect this information.
Some of our students have pointed out that, in the real world, the other side
won’t always answer your questions. That’s true. However, the probability that they will
answer is higher if you ask than if you do not!
Strategically Disclose Information
Your negotiation does not have a trusting atmosphere, and the other party is not answering
your questions in any useful way. What do you do next? Give away some information
of your own. Do not tell the other side your reservation price—this will only
anchor your final outcome. Rather, reveal information of comparatively minor importance
that focuses on the trades you are willing to make. The goal is to share information
incrementally, back and forth. This technique minimizes your own risks: if the
other party is still reluctant to discuss matters, you can decide to hold back as well.