You would think that a city government would avoid negotiating mistakes. Think again. I recently witnessed a $21 million negotiating mistake that you would be shocked to learn. What did they do wrong? Lots of things. Just be sure you don’t make the same amateur mistakes.
What does your contract mean?
What do you think someone would mean if they used words like “best intent” or “do its best to meet” or “will promptly?” How would you know what actions would qualify to be their best intent? Would you know if the signatory was doing its best to complete a task? Is a one hour response prompt or is a 24 hour response prompt? I’ll bet both parties who signed the agreement would have different answers.
That’s the problem and one of the negotiating mistakes. Language in any agreement must be specific. This negotiation had an agreement filled with language that could mean almost anything to anyone. In this case, one partner was at the mercy of the other because they began deducting money for contract violations. That cost the city $21 million. A specific contract must have numbers and references. Time is in hours or minutes. Location is in feet, yards or metric measurements. Include where the measurements are made from and to. Violation expenses must be stated in dollars. Anything less is open to interpretation and is the mistake an amateur negotiator makes.
Get it in writing to avoid negotiating mistakes.
Then there were the “he said he would do this….” that was never written in the agreement. Yes, it’s nice to trust other people. Trust has nothing to do with agreements. Who can remember who said what after the negotiation is over? There’s a very important saying that the faintest ink is worth more than the strongest memory.
There were community groups at public meetings which cited promises that were made by the agency, but not kept. One example was a guard house which was to be rebuilt exactly as it was before the agency changed the road height. Apparently no one got the agreed upon change in writing. Then suddenly the entrance to the community changed from the guard house at-grade level to being 8 feet below a new street. Can you imagine driving into a community where the guard has to climb out of a hole to check the incoming visitors?
State clearly who does what and when.
Your ability to meet contract requirements may suffer if your partner doesn’t do a task before your work can begin. This was the case here. The city had to release permits for the project, but the other agency submitted incomplete documentation to get the permits. The city couldn’t release permits. Later the agency claimed the city was causing millions of dollars of project delays. Nothing in the contract included who does what and when.
Be sure you know how your partner’s performance impacts your ability to comply with the conditions in your agreement. There was no way the city caused the agency’s poor performance, yet the agency was blaming the city. Since the agency had the funds, it could withhold them and did! This significant dollar deduction could have been avoided if all the steps in the process were detailed in the agreement with deadlines and responsibilities outlined so there were no misunderstandings later.
Negotiating is a big part of sales success. A poor negotiation can cause you problems that will significantly impact your success. Your job is to avoid these amateur mistakes. Now you can.