NEGOTIATING - USEFUL LANGUAGE

Negotiating - Dealing with problems
EMPLOYEE                                                    MANAGER
Describing the problem                                   Responding
There´s too much...                                            I´m sorry, but...
There isn´t enough...                                           I understand but...

Emphasising the problem                                Explaining the reasons
It´s really important...                                          The problem is...
We need to...                                                      The reason is...

Making suggestions                                         Responding
Why don´t you...?                                               OK. I´ll think about it.
We could...                                                         All right. I´ll get back to you.


Negotiating - reaching agreement
Stating aims
We´d like to have it in a month´s time.
We must have delivery by the end of next week.

Making concessions
If I have to finish in one month, I´ll need to have an extra designer.
That could be all right - as long as I get some money in advance.

Rejecting suggestions
We´d prefer to pay you a fixed amount.

Bargaining
How about paying me half when I start the work?

Focussing the discussion
Let´s talk about the time for setting up the website.


Negotiating - dealing with conflict
Calming down
I understand what you´re saying.
I can see your point of view.
Well, I know/see what you mean.
Why don´t we come back to that later?
Let´s have a break and come back with some fresh ideas.
You don´t have to worry about...

Creating solutions
A compromise could be to...
How about if...
What if...
Let´s look at this another way.
Another possibility is...

Closing a negotiation
Let´s see what we´ve got.
Can I go over what we´ve agreed?
Let´s go over the main points again.
OK, I think that covers everything.
We´ve got a deal.
Fine. Right. That´s it then.


Negotiating techniques
Starting
Could we begin now please?
OK, let´s get started, shall we?

Exploring positions
What do you have in mind?
How would you feel about a bigger discount?

Making offers and concessions
If you order now, we´ll give you a discount.
We´d be prepared to offer you a better price if you increased your order.

Checking understanding
When you say there are delivery problems, what do you mean?
Have I got this right? You said a discount on an order of 1000.
If I understand you correctly...

Refusing an offer
I´m sorry, we can´t accept that.
I´m not sure about that.

Accepting an offer
I think we can agree to that.
That sounds reasonable.

Playing for time
I´d like to think about it.
I´m sorry, but I´ll have to consult my colleagues about that.

Closing the deal
That´s it, then. I think we´ve covered everything.
Great! We´ve got a deal.

Diplomatic way to express yourself in negotiations
I think we should talk about price first.
I´m afraid we can´t give you any credit.
Could you give me a discount?
Unfortunately, I can´t lower my price.
I wonder if you could alter the specifications.
Your price seems rather high.


Signalling
I´d like to make a suggestion. I think we should leave this point and come back to it later.
I want to ask a question. How are we going to pay for this?

Checking understanding
Sorry, could you repeat that?
Are you saying you don´t have that quantity in stock?
So what you´re saying is you will...

Summarising
Can we just summarise the points we´ve agreed so far?
OK, so we´re agreed. You´ll pay for delivery and get everything to us by the end of June.


Reaching agreement
Asking for opínions
Does sanybody have any strong feelings about...?

Giving opinions
Well, unfortunately, I think we´ll probably have to...

Disagreeing
Well hold on...

Agreeing
I think I´d agree with you there...

Making suggestions
What about if we...?

Emphasising
I keep going on about this, but...

Summarising
Can I just clarify that...


Resolving conflict
Expressing your feelings
My main concern is...

Making suggestions
One thing you could do is...

Expressing satisfaction
Yes, that would be very helpful...

Expressing dissatisfaction
I don´t think that would do much good.

Agreeing action
OK, this is what we´ll do.

Showing sympathy
I know how you feel.

Stating common goals
We´ve got the same objective.

Identifying the real problem
What´s really bothering you?

Resolving the conflict
How do you think we should deal with this?

Reviewing the situation
Let´s meet next week and see how things are going.


Open questions
Why do you need a loan.

Closed questions
Do you have any other backers?

Softening phrases
I´m sorry we can´t go that high.

Signalling phrases
I´d like to make a proposal. I think we should...

Summarising
Let´s see what we´ve got so far.


Source: MARKET LEADER - Longman