A632.4.4.RB_Deception in Negotiations

Deception in Negotiations

During the course of negotiations, people often misrepresent information to gain at least a temporary advantage. I would like to reflect on deceptions in negotiations and describe ways I can reduce vulnerability to deception during negotiations. 

One way I will reduce deception in future negotiations is by evaluating motivations ahead of the negotiation. In my last role, I always had more success in negotiating when I knew the motives of the individuals that I was negotiating with, and this can be a very effective strategy when used in any situation with negotiations. A real-life example of this was creating labor schedules for full and part-time employees in my store at Target. As I developed a better relationship with employees, I knew what motivated them and how their motivation impacted what schedule they wanted to work and why. I used this information when determining who to schedule for what shifts, which made the scheduling process easier because I had pertinent information ahead of time that I used to get buy-in from employees. I often forget to use this tactic because I associate it with the workplace, but it can be used outside of the work environment quite effectively.

Another strategy I’d like to implement more in future negotiations is considering the setting. Even in face-to-face conversation and negotiation, the setting of the conversation can influence the behaviors of the individuals. For example, I have found in my experience that negotiating with current and future employees is much easier to do in a neutral place, as opposed to the office of the individual. A place of comfort like an office gives power to that individual, so meeting somewhere neutral and unfamiliar may help take away some of that power. I would like to do this for customer meetings and employee negotiations where meeting someplace neutral can level the playing field for all parties.

Establishing trust is another important tactic in helping to reduce deception in negotiations. At times I have let my impatience take over in negotiations and failed to take the time to build trust, but I came to realize the time taken to do so is well worth it. In my experience, once a relationship is built, and trust is established, the deception fades away and negotiations transition from a win-lose approach to a win-win, as each party slowly becomes interested in ensuring all needs are met because the negotiation is occurring between two acquaintances, not two strangers. One area I want to improve is spending time early in negotiating by building a relationship with the other party and connecting on a personal and professional level before talking about the deal at hand.

One last area that I would like to improve upon is asking direct questions during negotiations. It’s almost become a part of our culture to sugarcoat information and refrain from being so candid to not offend anyone by being too open and direct. However, this opens the door for deception and also does not help build trust between parties. Transparency and authenticity is a much more effective tool in negotiating, and these are byproducts of being direct and asking straight forward questions. I want to be bolder and ask more direct questions after building a relationship to maximize my effectiveness in negotiating.

A recent example in which I was misled in negotiation was when I purchased our home last summer. The agent we were working with was also the listing agent, so his office stood to make a double commission on the deal if it went through. I was told that we would receive a discount on the commission if I dropped my agent and was convinced that the double agent scenario would provide a greater opportunity cost benefit.  We made a deal, and his office had a very good month, but the agency took out the full 3% commission for both sides of the transaction.  Also, we found out after the sale that there were some deficiencies with the house that were not called out and were also missed by the home inspector. These were issues that the previous homeowner and listing agent would have known about, but because they wanted to offload the house as quickly as possible and maximize their profit, they withheld this information from us.

Another recent example that highlights overstating on my part was when we sold our home last year. Before the appraisal was done, I drafted a letter stating all of the upgrades that we did to the home while in our possession, and 2 of the upgrades listed were done by the previous seller immediately before we took possession of the home.  The roof was replaced, and a few windows due to damage from a recent storm and the previous owner claimed the replacements through his insurance policy.  The upgrades were significant, so it may not have had an impact on the appraisal but inspired a lot more confidence in the buyers that they were getting a great deal.   We did not include the cost of these upgrades in the selling price, as we shouldn’t have because they were done for no charge to us and included in the last appraisal.  I did not have to go too deep into explaining to them because the buyers never asked, but if confronted about them, I may have told them they were completed early on in our ownership of the home because I wanted to sell the home. The circumstances might have been different if the upgrades were not as costly. It’s interesting to see our behaviors change when we realize that overstating something could benefit us, even if we understand it to be harmless at the time. It doesn’t change the fact that we are not completely honest in an effort to better our situation.