Deal-Alchemy has advantages over negotiation.
Deal-Alchemy is for key decision-makers like you.
You get what you really need from a deal – with less pain, effort, time, money, and risk.
You quickly discover and establish new formulas for agreement based on real-needs rather than perceived needs.
Deal-Alchemy is an important supplement or alternative to negotiation at times critical for you.
Negotiation is often counterproductive.
You may have first-hand experience with the frustrations of negotiation, including:
Strained relationships. Negotiation stresses relationships even when parties want to establish or maintain cooperative ventures or long-term connections.
Negotiators with their own agendas. This is particularly counterproductive because a problem is defined by the values of the person perceiving it.
Emotions may dominate. Even when the consequences of not making a deal could be disastrous, good sense does not always prevail.
Miscommunication. There may be lack of understanding or clarity around the situation or what is said.
Parties in a negotiation can get
everything they want,
and the result may be crippled and stillborn
because what they want, or think they need,
is at odds with a truly healthy result.
everything they want,
and the result may be crippled and stillborn
because what they want, or think they need,
is at odds with a truly healthy result.
Deal-Alchemy solves two fundamental problems.
First, Deal-Alchemy represents the deal. What is good for the deal is often lost in negotiating struggle. Deal-Alchemy cuts through confusion and ego games – to develop a vision, distinguish real-needs from perceived needs, and get decisive resolutions.
Second, the process used to find a solution defines the boundaries of the solution. By utilizing the expansiveness of a deal-making approach, rather than the confrontation of negotiating, Deal-Alchemy expands your solution possibilities:
Negotiation |
Deal-Alchemy |
|
|---|---|---|
Position or perceived needs based |
Truth and real-needs based |
|
Us vs. Them – the deal gets lost |
Neutral person advocates and protects the deal |
|
Frequently ends relationships |
Enhances relationships |
|
Stifles connection and trust |
Preserves connection and builds trust |
|
Artificial limits that prevent relationships from growing |
Smoothes relationships and endings, without closing doors |
|
Usually protracted back-and-forth |
Deals done quickly |
|
Creates boundaries and limited points of view |
Opens to new opportunities |
|
Negotiators with own agendas and egos |
Decision-makers with vision and power to exploit the unexpected |
With Deal-Alchemy, we can often obtain information the parties cannot gain by themselves. We can cause parties to reevaluate needs and move the process forward. We can establish new grounds for agreement, say things the parties cannot say, and ask “dumb” questions that may educate the person answering it. We can even introduce innovative solutions without provoking “reactive devaluation” – the perception that any idea introduced by the other side is a bad one – a primary obstacle in negotiations.
When is the right time for Deal-Alchemy?
Deal-Alchemy is useful in a variety of sensitive or high pressure situations when resources – such as time and money – and relationships are important:
At the cliff edge, before litigation.
Deadlocked and time-critical negotiations.
Deadlocked and time-critical negotiations.
Disputes in the boardroom or with minority shareholders - before things spin out of control.
Frictions with long-term alliance partners.
Disputes regarding intellectual property, territories, products, and other rights.
Terminations of key employees, founders, or inventors.
Collections and restructuring debt.
When it is time to stop kicking the tires and make it happen.
Even after negotiations have failed - you can often revive seemingly dead deals in a healthier and better form.
The results can be Beyond Win-Win.
Do you know why decision-makers
do better deals than negotiators?
do better deals than negotiators?
It is astounding what happens in a room with decision-makers who have the power to say, “Yes!” As a key decision-maker for your business, you possess the greatest wisdom about your business, and you are the best source for solutions:
You have vision for your business.
You have authority to change direction and exploit unexpected opportunities that may arise in making a deal.
Your vision enables you to efficiently separate the important from the unimportant and move quickly to agreement.
Negotiators, no matter how well meaning, have their own agendas and understandings of the situation. Some are wonderful at what they do. But, many focus on limitations, such as protecting you at the expense of getting the deal done, trying to prove themselves to you, and avoiding risks, while others may just misunderstand the circumstances. Even among the rare negotiators who have the ability to explore a new idea or opportunity implied in a passing nuance, most do not sufficiently embody the corporate or market vision to understand its potentials.
Here are steps to start.
If you are in the midst of solving or negotiating a tough problem – perhaps one that’s listed above – contact us. Or, contact us if you have questions about Deal-Alchemy.
Use the form below, or call 415.334.1100.
To learn about Proactive Mediation click here. Proactive Mediation can be used to settle disputes and litigation. More importantly, it can be used proactively in new ways to maximize opportunities and minimize emotional and psychological pain from disputes.
Download the free Workbook, Beginning to Make Peace With Conflict™, if you haven’t already done it. This Workbook will help you understand how to read hidden motivations and other important behavioral signals during negotiations. Click here to download the Workbook and sign-up for the Conflict-Alchemy newsletter.
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