Business Negotiations

Introduction

• Presenter: Gina
• Platform: Oxford Online English
• Lesson Focus: Useful language for business negotiations
  • Making your position clear
  • Accepting/rejecting proposals
  • Expressing yourself professionally
• Recommendations: Watch videos on chairing and attending meetings.
• Website: Oxford Online English dot com for free lessons and booking professional teachers.

Role-play Scenario

• Gina: Purchaser for a clothing wholesaler
• Daniel: Manufacturer’s representative

Part 1: Making Your Position Clear

Initial Dialogue

• Gina: Reviewed proposals, unbranded clothing, variety of styles.
• Daniel: Confirmed t-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, zip-up tops, long-sleeved tees.
• Gina: Volume discussion; starting small (500-1500 units per SKU), scaling up later, prefers flexibility.
• Daniel: Logistics, production, delivery time (around two weeks), larger orders take more time.
• Gina: Warehousing space limits; can't commit to fixed schedule, orders on low stock.
• Daniel: Challenges of offering lowest prices without a fixed delivery schedule, sizes, and colors needed.

Key Phrases

• Direct Statement:
  • “I suggest starting small and scaling up later.”
  • “We’d prefer to keep things flexible to begin with.”
• Specific Questions:
  • “What kind of volumes are we looking at?”
  • “What’s the situation regarding production and delivery?”
• Open-ended Questions:
  • “What do you have in mind exactly?”
  • “And that would be per-month, or…?”
• Conversational Technique: Unfinished questions with ‘or’ for more info.

Part 2: Setting Conditions

Conditional Dialogue

• Gina: Asked for per-unit pricing for 100,000 units.
• Daniel: Flexible schedule pricing, per-unit.
• Gina: Higher volumes, lower pricing inquiry.
• Daniel: Importance of the schedule, minimum monthly volume offers.

Key Phrases

• If-sentences:
  • “If we’re ordering around 100,000 units at one time, what kind of per-unit pricing can you offer?”
  • “If we commit to a minimum volume over a six-month period, could you offer us the same price?”
• Other Conditional Language:
  • “Assuming that you need a flexible schedule, we could offer six dollars per unit…”
  • “Supposing you could commit to a minimum monthly volume, we could go down to five-fifty…”
  • “As long as there were some limitations on the delivery timing…”

Part 3: Handling Disagreements

Disagreement Dialogue

• Daniel: Monthly deliveries needed for lower prices, some flexibility.
• Gina: Flexibility essential, model based on just-in-time logistics.
• Daniel: Insistence on logistics and costs; flexible deliveries won’t get best prices.
• Gina: Potential to order millions, control of timing and quantities.
• Daniel: Highlighted own logistics issues, unwilling to absorb costs.
• Gina: Drawing a line, risky for them. Proposed a break.

Key Phrases

• Direct Rejection:
  • “We won’t be able to offer you the lower price.”
  • “We can’t offer our best prices without a regular commitment on your part.”
  • “We’re not willing to absorb those costs.”
• Other Disagreement Language:
  • “I’ll come right out and say that’s not going to work for us.”
  • “There’s no way around this.”
  • “I’m sorry, but I have to draw a line here.”
• Defusing Conflict: Suggest a break – “Shall we take a five-minute break?”

Part 4: Resolving Disagreements

Resolution Dialogue

• Gina: Proposal after consulting, flexible delivery with minimum volume per-quarter, liable for shortfall.
• Daniel: Reacted to offer, asked for minimum over the whole period for flexibility.
• Gina: Explanation of compromise, potential to move forward.
• Daniel: Need to confirm with team but feasible.

Key Phrases

• Introducing Ideas:
  • “I have a proposal which I hope can make this work for everyone.”
  • “Here’s my solution: …”
  • “I’ll make another offer…”
• Requesting Ideas:
  • “What’s your idea?”
  • “What would you suggest?”
• Reacting Positively:
  • “That’s a good offer.”
  • “I think this should be feasible.”
  • “Feasible”: Means practical and possible.

Part 5: Summarising and Next Steps

Summary Dialogue

• Gina: Summarised main points: order volume, pricing, delivery notice.
• Daniel: Agreement on details, colours, and sizes.
• Gina: Discussed penalties for not meeting minimum volume, unit costs.
• Daniel: Agreed on terms, next steps of writing and sending a provisional agreement.

Key Phrases

• Summarising Agreement:
  • “Let’s go through the main points: …”
  • “Regarding delivery, …”
• Pending Issues:
  • “We still need to settle the exact details of…”
  • “There’s also the matter of…”
• Next Steps:
  • “We’ll put this in writing.”
  • “We’ll send you a provisional agreement.”
  • “Draw up”: Means to write legal documents like contracts.

Conclusion

• Encourage sharing experiences or tips in comments.
• Thanks to the audience and a goodbye!