Successful Negotiations, Like Successful Plays, Need Great Lines - Part II

Faegre Baker Daniels partner Mark Voigtmann authored the following article for the Control System Integrators Association in April 2014.

In last month's newsletter I disclosed that you will be seeing a first for the "legal segment" at this year's upcoming CSIA Executive Conference in San Diego. Not only will I be presenting alongside my colleague, Brian Clifford, but we will be doing so in the form of a play. Title: "The Negotiation (With Jokes)." Curtain time: 3:15 p.m., Thursday, April 24.   

Our idea is to take an automation project from initial sale to closeout and act out the negotiation strategies for each phase.   

Last month, I introduced the first three "acts," all of which concern the types of negotiations taking place in the early stages of a business relationship between integrator and end user-those that concern sales, important terms and conditions, and all of the trailing project details. Here are the final three acts:

Act IV: We Can Tell You, But We'd Have to Kill You. Handled correctly, a nondisclosure agreement can be a beautiful thing. It protects the end user from scattering its precious knowledge to the wind while ensuring that the integrator will have access to all of the important information necessary for delivering a quality system. Key tip to be explained more fully in San Diego: Don't permit the NDA to be cluttered with unnecessary matter.   

Act V: The Good News/Bad News. The negotiation does not end with the signing of an agreement. After crossing one finish line, there is always another starting gun that signals the beginning of an even more important race: the project itself. That can be a good news-bad news situation-with significant pitfalls lurking alongside every opportunity for additional profit. Key tip to be explained more fully in San Diego: The most important question to ask yourself in negotiating any change order is whether the effect of a proposed change goes beyond the change itself.   

Act VI: Your Imperfect Integration and Their Jury-Rigged Process. Those who work with clients who are knowledgeable in the ways of control systems (and their inherent imperfections) are the lucky ones. Those who do not . . . well, let's just say they may need a final negotiation before heading out to the next project: resolving a claim. Key tip to be explained more fully in San Diego: Don't throw it to the lawyers prematurely, even when the last thing you want to do is spend another minute with "that client." Yes, there are negotiation strategies even when "things go south." (And no, we are not talking about a trip to Cabo.)  

See you in San Diego.