So in addition to being an author, entrepreneur and business/artist coach I'm also a club dj here in Chicago. My entrepreneurial friend also does many things and has asked business favors of me in the past which I've happily delivered. This time he requested that I edit a few of my mixes and put his business name on them for a mini-mix he would release every Friday on his Facebook business page. In exchange he would put the link to my podcast on his personal page. I felt and expressed that his offer wasn't enough and sent him a 'Co-Sponsorship Agreement' proposing mutual promotion of each other's businesses and events on our respective Facebook business pages. This is when the negotiations began and our initial conversation ended up with him angrily hanging up the phone.
This year my goal has been to create smart collaborations that are win-win for all parties involved. In fact I fit one of the 5 types of negotiators, Collaborators, in which win-win is the objective, but sometimes we can make things a little more complicated. This is what my friend expressed and perhaps there is some truth in his belief. In his eyes his request was simple because the mixes we already done and his exchange was fair. In my opinion his request was not as simple as he believed because of the time involved in the editing and the quality of the total product on my end, and what he was offering in exchange didn't meet my needs. Since I have been focused on building my businesses I felt that our agreement could be used as leverage for other agreements. I also need people to attend the events we host as opposed to needing exposure to my podcast mixes. His position was that his business doesn't promote other events and that exposure from his personal page was sufficient. It wasn't win-win in my opinion and our second conversation about the matter ended with me suggesting we table this discussion until a future date. The reality is that we probably won't work together, and while this is a little disappointing I'm ok with that. But the experience did leave me with a few questions and thoughts for all of us to ponder:
- Was I being unreasonable?
- Should I have just done the favor for my friend as opposed to complicating it with business?
- Is what I was offering a value to the other party or just my own perceived value?
- Did I truly recognize the value that he was offering?
- Was my communication poor?
Upon reflection I don't regret my position or the outcome and I feel confident that I listened as well as I could. I tried to compromise and even offered ways for both of us to compromise. Some things for you to consider as you enter into your next negotiations might include:
- What do they want?
- What do I want?
- How can I help us to get what we both want?
- What is the costs involved and are they feasible?
- What is the value of your product?
- Is it ok to not get what you want from the negotiation?
In conclusion check out the wikipedia page on negotiation, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiating, it gives a good explanation of different types of negotiations as well as other good resources for further research.
Good luck with your next negotiations, especially if it's with a friend and business person as well. Try to make sure that the relationship is not damaged. We can find other businesses to collaborate or partner with, but we can't replace our friends so easily.
Lastly I'll leave you with this fun little video illustrating another type of negotiating known as haggling from Monty Python. Enjoy!
Til next time,
~Let's Build Empires Together~
Fre
Youth Entrepreneurship Teacher with Global Institute (www.theglobal-institute.com)
Certified Coach at Fre Thought Coaching
Founder of Fre Music
Events planner and dj with Evolve Entertainment
mixes can be found at www.djfre.podomatic.com
