It's never been done like that.' 'They are not empowered to make that decision.' 'That is of little value to them because they are not measured on it.' 'Show them the money.' 'That'll take too much time.'

Sound familiar? If your 'little voice' in your head keeps repeating these statements while you prepare for your negotiations, the chances are your creativity is being stifled. You are trapped in a paradigm which is likely to limit your ability to maximise the profitability.

The old paradigm on negotiating everything against margin results in conflict and 'zero sum gain' (ie one party will always lose). A new paradigm of trading variables that are of low cost to you and high value to them, in return for variables that are of low cost to them and high value to you, can allow both parties to come away with a great outcome.

It's not really a case of the cliché win-win. More accurately, one party wins - the other party wins more, and you must decide on which side of that equation you wish to sit.

So what are these magic variables that allow for creative trading? Well, many sit right in front of you and have become commonly negotiated (eg gate fees, pack sizes etc). Many are far less obvious because of their intangibility.

Information sharing is of huge value to the other party and of relatively zero cost to you. Training is of some cost, but could it add greater value? Referrals are zero cost but could add a lot of value. All of these are intangible in value so often get overlooked or undervalued.

If you take the typical buyer/seller relationship and analyse the total value negotiated over a year, the proportion that margin contributes (between the buyer's expectation and the seller's expectation) accounts for between 7% and 38% of the total value. Why then do we spend, on average, 72% of our time negotiating margin? Is this lack of creativity or lack of valuing the intangibles? It is probably both. Spend time in your preparation being creative:

1. On a chart write out all the possible tradeables.

2. Work out their relative cost and value to each party.

3. Build your proposition to explain to the other party the value of these to them.

4. Build proposals that include offering them high value (from those low cost to you) in return for things of high value to you (but low cost to them).

5. Remain open-minded to their creative proposals and take time to consider the value of these.



Graham Botwright is a partner with The Gap Partnership specialising in commercial negotiation consultancy