職場博弈，如何成爲談判高手？外企高管推薦這15條黃金法則！
Almost every business deal requires a strategy for a successful business negotiation, whether the deal involves an acquisition, a lease, a sale agreement, or other commercial transaction. And being successful in negotiations can make a meaningful difference for the success of your business and career. But I have seen countless mistakes made in negotiations, so I have compiled some practical tips in this article.
幾乎所有的商業交易都需要成功的談判策略，無論交易中涉及收購，租賃，銷售協議還是其他的業務往來。成功的談判可以對事業的成功造成意義重大的影響。但是，我在談判中看到的錯誤不計其數，所以在這篇文章中彙編了一些實用的小建議。
1.Listen and understand the other party’s issues and point of view.
1.聽聽對方的問題和觀點。
Some of the worst negotiators I have seen are the ones who do all the talking, seeming to want to control the conversation and expound endlessly on the merits of their position. The best negotiators tend to be the ones who truly listen to the other side, understand their key issues and hot buttons, and then formulate an appropriate response. Try to gain an understanding about what is important to the other side, what limitations they may have, and where they may have flexibility. Refrain from talking too much.
我所看到的一些最糟糕的談判代表是那些總是言之滔滔的人，他們似乎想掌控話語權，並不斷地闡述他們所處立場的優點。最好的談判者往往是真正傾聽對方，瞭解對方的關鍵問題和敏感點，然後給出適當的迴應。嘗試瞭解對方看重什麼，他們又受限於什麼條件，以及他們在哪些地方可以有靈活性。切忌說得太多。
2.Be prepared.
2.準備妥當。
Being prepared entails a whole host of things you may need to do, such as:
Review and understand thoroughly the business of the other party by reviewing their website, their press releases, articles written about their company, and so forth. A thorough Google and LinkedIn search is advisable here.Review the background of the person you are negotiating with by reviewing any bio on the company’s site, the person’s LinkedIn profile, and by doing a Web search.Review what similar deals have been completed by the other side, and the terms thereof. For public companies, some of their prior agreements may be filed with the SEC.Understand the offerings and pricings from competitors of the party you are negotiating with.準備妥當包括完成一系列你可能需要做的事情，例如：徹底瞭解對方的業務，可以通過審查對方的公司網站，發佈的信息，關於他們公司的文章等。建議進行詳盡的谷歌和領英搜索。
審查當下談判人的背景資料，可以通過查看公司網站上的個人簡歷，該人的領英個人資料以及進行網頁搜索他的個人信息。審查對方已完成的類似交易及其條款。對於上市公司，他們之前的一些協議可能還會提交給美國證券交易委員會。瞭解對方其他競爭對手的產品和定價。3.Keep the negotiations professional and courteous.
3.保持談判的專業性和禮貌性。
This is also known as the “don’t be an asshole rule.” Nobody really wants to do business with a difficult or abusive personality. After all, even after the negotiations are concluded, you may want to do business with this person again, or the transaction may require ongoing involvement with the representative of the other side. Establishing a good long-term relationship should be one of the goals in the negotiation. A collaborative, positive tone in negotiations is more likely to result in progress to a closing.
這也被稱爲“不要做‘混蛋’規則”。沒有人真的願意和個性差又粗俗的人進行合作。畢竟，在這次談判結束之後，你也可能想再次與這個人做生意，或者交易中可能常常需要對方代表人的參與。所以建立長期良好的關係應該是談判的目標之一。談判中合作，積極的態度更有可能促成交易的完成。
4.Understand the deal dynamics.
4.瞭解交易動態。
Understanding the deal dynamics is crucial in any negotiation. So be prepared to determine the following:
Who has the leverage in the negotiation? Who wants the deal more?
What timing constraints is the other side under?
What alternatives does the other side have?
Is the other side going to be getting a significant payment from you? If so, the leverage will tend to be on your side.
瞭解交易動態在任何談判中都是至關重要的。所以要準備確定好以下內容：
在談判中誰起槓桿作用？誰想要更多的交易？
另一方受什麼時間限制？
另一方有哪些替代方案？
對方將會從你那兒獲得一大筆付款嗎？如果是，槓桿將傾向於你這一邊。
5.Always draft the first version of the agreement.
5.總是起草協議的第一個版本。
An absolutely fundamental principle of almost any negotiation is that you (or your lawyers) should prepare the first draft of the proposed contract. This lets you frame how the deal should be structured, implement key points that you want that haven’t been discussed, and gets momentum on your side. The other party will be reluctant to make extensive changes to your document (unless it is absurdly one sided), and therefore you will have already won part of the battle by starting off with your preferred terms. Having said that, you want to avoid starting the negotiations with an agreement that the other side will never agree to. Balance is key here.
幾乎任何談判都應遵循一個絕對的基本原則，你（或你的律師）應準備擬議合同的初稿。這可以讓你安排交易的過程，補充雙方尚未討論的但是是你想要的一些關鍵點，併爲你方贏得主動權。對方肯定也不想對你的文件進行大量更改（除非實在“一邊倒”得厲害），因此你將通過首選條款在這場戰役裏開始小獲勝利。話雖如此，你還是應該避免一開始就談判一個對方永遠不會同意的協議，權衡利弊保持平衡是這兒的關鍵。
6. Be prepared to “play poker” and be ready to walk away.
6. 準備好“打撲克”，也準備好扔牌走人。
You must be able to play poker with the other side, and be able to walk away if the terms of the deal aren’t up to your liking. This is easier said than done, but is sometimes critical to get to an end game. Know before you start what your target price or walkaway price is. Be prepared with market data to back up why your price is reasonable, and if you are confronted with an ultimatum that you absolutely can’t live with, be prepared to walk away.
你必須能夠與對方玩撲克，如果交易條款不符合你的喜好，也可以一走了之。這件事，說起來容易，做起來難，但是對於結束一場博弈來說，有時候至關重要。開始前，務必明確你的目標價格或最低價。準備好市場數據來支持爲什麼你的價格是合理的，但是如果你面臨的最終提案是你絕對不能接受的，那就準備扔牌走人。
7.Avoid the bad strategy of “negotiating by continually conceding.”
7.避免“不斷妥協的談判”這一不良策略。
Ten years ago, a company I was involved with was desperate to sell itself. The CEO was convinced that a certain prospective buyer was the ideal acquirer and he wanted to do the deal with them. But the buyer kept coming up with new unreasonable demands, and the CEO kept giving into those demands in the hopes of getting to a closing. So what did the buyer do? It learned that it could just keep asking for more unreasonable things, and that the CEO would always eventually cave.
Nine months and $1 million in legal fees later, the company still didn’t have a deal. I then took over the negotiations and told the buyer that we were no longer interested in the terms they had been proposing, and we were walking away unless the price and deal terms got much better for us. By that time, the buyer itself had expended a great deal of legal fees and management time to get to a deal, and they panicked at the prospect of losing the deal. So they conceded to virtually every point I wanted, including an increased purchase price, and we closed the deal in 45 days. So the lesson was that continually conceding points (while not getting anything in return) can lead to the exact opposite of what you are hoping for. If you are conceding a point, make sure to try and get something in return.
十年前，我所在的一家公司急於轉讓。這家公司的首席執行官確信某位潛在買家是理想的收購方，所以他很想與他們達成協議。但買家不斷提出不合理的要求，而那個執行官爲了促成交易結束，不斷做出退讓。那麼買家做了什麼呢？ 他們知道，他們還可以不斷提出更多的不合理的要求，而那個執行官最終總會妥協。
九個月之後，耗費了一百萬美元的法律費用，我們公司還沒有達成交易。隨後，我接手了談判的任務，並告訴買方，我們不再對他們提出的條款感興趣。除非他們提高價格和改善交易條件，否則我們將放棄合作。當時買家本就花費了大量的法律費用和時間來和我們談生意，他們想到可能會失去交易而感到恐慌不已。所以他們幾乎接受了我方想要的每一個要求，包括提高購買價格，我們也在45天內結束了交易。因此我的經驗是，持續的妥協（在沒有得到任何回報的情況下）可能會導致結果與你所希望的完全相反。如果你讓了一步，請務必試着去獲得回報。
8.Keep in mind that time is the enemy of many deals.
8.請記住：時間是許多交易的敵人。
You have to understand that the longer a deal takes to get completed, the more likely that something will occur to derail it. So be prompt at responding, get your lawyer to turn documents around quickly, and keep the deal momentum moving. However, that doesn’t mean you should rush through negotiations and make concessions that you don’t need to make. Understand when time is on your side and when time could be your real enemy.
你必須明白，完成交易需要的時間越長，越容易導致交易發生意外。所以要及時迴應，讓你的律師快速轉交文件，保持交易的勢頭持續向前。但是，這並不意味着你要匆匆忙忙地談判和做出不必要的讓步。弄清楚在什麼時候時間有利於你，而什麼時候時間將會成爲你真正的敵人。
9.Don’t fixate on the deal in front of you and ignore alternatives.
9.不要只拘泥於你面前的交易而忽略了其他替代方案。
In many situations you want to have competitive alternatives. This can enhance your negotiating position and allow you to make the best decision as to how to proceed. For example, if you are engaging in a process to sell your company, the best thing you can do is to have several potential bidders at the table. You want to avoid being locked up into exclusive negotiations with one bidder until you have reached a meeting of the minds as to the best price and terms available. Similarly, if you are looking to buy a product, lease office space, or acquire a loan for your business, you will often be better off if you have alternatives—and the other party knows it has viable competitors. By negotiating simultaneously with two or more parties, you can often obtain better pricing or better contractual terms.
在許多情況下，你希望有許多有競爭力的可選方案。這可以增強您的談判地位，並允許你就交易進程做出最好的決定。例如，如果你正要銷售你的公司，那麼最好的辦法就是讓幾個潛在的投標人坐一桌上。直到和所有人交談並瞭解最佳價格和條款前，你應該避免被一個投標人鎖定在一家談判中。同樣地，如果你想購買產品，租賃辦公空間或爲業務申請貸款，如果有多個選擇，你的境遇自然好上許多——當然另一方需要知道他們存在強有力的競爭對手。 通過同時與兩個或更多方進行談判，你通常可以獲得更好的報價或更好的合同條款。
10.Don’t get hung up on one issue.
10. 不要執着於某一個問題。
You want to avoid getting stuck on a seemingly intractable issue. Sometimes it’s best to suggest that an issue be set aside for the moment and both parties move on to make progress on other issues. A creative solution may come to you later outside the heat of the negotiation.
你應該要避免被一個看似棘手的問題困住。有時候，最好的辦法是將這個問題暫時擱置，雙方在其他問題上進行協商取得進展。或許在談判的熱潮之後，一個創造性的解決方案就會出現在你的腦中。
11.Identify who the real decision-maker is.
11.確定誰是真正的決策者。
You want to understand what kind of authority the other person that you are negotiating with has. Is he or she the ultimate decision-maker? I recently went through a long and fruitless set of negotiations with a person who kept telling me that he didn’t have the authority to agree to a number of points we were negotiating. He could tell me “no” to my requests but didn’t have the ability to tell me “yes.” My solution (because I had leverage) was that I ended the conversation and said that for us to make any progress, I needed to negotiate with the person who was authorized to make decisions and concessions.
你應該知道你對面的談判人有什麼樣的權力。他或她是最終的決策者嗎？我最近經歷了一場漫長而無果的談判，那個人不斷地告訴我，他沒有權力同意我們正在談判的一些事情。 他可以拒絕我的要求，但卻沒有資格同意我的要求。我的解決方案則是（因爲交易中我更佔優勢）結束當前談判並表明雙方若想取得進展，我必須得與有能力做決定和讓步的人進行協商。
12.Never accept the first offer.
12.永遠不要接受首次報價。
It’s often a mistake to accept the first offer from the other side. For example, if you are selling your home and you receive an offer, consider countering at a higher price or better terms (even if there are no other offers). If you don’t counter, the other party will be concerned that they offered too much and may end up with buyer’s remorse and attempt to get out of the deal. And buyers expect that there will be a counter as they expect that their first offer will likely be rejected. Most buyers will leave room in their first offer to go up by at least 5%-15% in price, depending on the situation. Counter-offers and some back-and-forth negotiation will most likely lead to the two parties being satisfied that they struck the best deal they could, and thus be more committed to closing the deal.
接受另一方的首次報價通常是錯誤的。舉個例子，如果你正在出售房屋並收到了一個報價，考慮一下要求對方提高價格或提供更好的條款（就算沒有其他人進行報價）。 如果你對價格沒有異議，另一方將擔心他們給的太多，很有可能會後悔開出的條件，並試圖擺脫這筆交易。買家預想得到賣家會還價，就像第一次報價很可能會被駁回。根據不同的情況，大多數買家會在首次報價上留有空間，價格至少能上升5％-15％。反覆還價和來回地談判最有可能讓雙方感到滿意，因爲他們彼此認爲已經達成了最好的協議，從而也更堅定地完成這項交易。
13.Ask the right questions.
13.提出正確的問題。
Don’t be afraid to ask the other party many questions. The answers can be informative for the negotiations. Depending on the type of deal, you could ask:
Is this the best pricing or offer you can give me?
What assurances do I get that your product or solution will actually work for me?
Who are your competitors? How do their products compare?
What else can you throw in to the deal without cost to us? (A particularly useful question to ask car dealers.)
What is your desired timing for the deal?
How does our deal benefit you?
We want to avoid unreasonable forms of contracts or unreasonable lawyers on your end. How do we ensure that?
不要害怕問對方很多問題。這些答案可以爲接下來的談判提供許多信息。根據不同的交易類型，你可以問：
這是你能給我的最佳定價或優惠嗎？
有什麼可以保證你的產品或解決方案適用於我們公司？
你們的競爭對手是誰？他們的產品相較起來如何？
在不損失我方利益的情況下，你們還可以給出怎樣的有利條件？ （這個問題詢問汽車經銷商特別有效）
你期望的交易時間是什麼時候？
我們的交易對你方效益如何？
我們希望避免你方不合理的合同形式或不講道理的律師。我們該如何確保這個要求？
14.Prepare a Letter of Intent or Term Sheet to reflect your deal.
14.準備一份相關交易的意向書或條款表。
It is often helpful, at the appropriate time, to prepare a Letter of Intent or Term Sheet to reflect your view of the key terms of a deal. This can help expedite getting to an agreement, save on legal costs, and continue the momentum for a deal. It is more informal than a definitive agreement and easier to reach agreement on. For example, Letters of Intent are often prepared and agreed to in connection with mergers and acquisitions (see Negotiating an Acquisition Letter of Intent). And here are some good sample forms to review that can help you draft such a document:
A letter of intent for a joint venture
A term sheet for leasing office space
A venture capital term sheet
A term sheet for investment by a strategic investor
A term sheet for selling the company, favorable to the seller
An acquisition letter of intent, favorable to the buyer
在適當的時候準備一份意向書或術語表通常有助於反映你對關鍵交易條款的看法。這有助於加快達成協議，節省法律費用，並保持交易的勢頭。比起最終協議，意向書稍欠正式，卻有助於達成協議。例如，在併購時經常會準備意向書並被認可接受（參見談判收購意向書）。 這裏有一些很好的表格樣本，可以幫助你起草類似的文件：
合資企業意向書
租賃辦公空間術語表
風險投資條款表
戰略投資者投資的期限表
出售公司的條款表，利於賣方
收購意向書，利於買方
15.Get the help of the best advisors and lawyers.
15.獲得最好的顧問和律師的幫助。
If it’s a big or complicated deal, you want real expertise on your side helping you in the negotiations and drafting the contract. For example, if you are selling your company, it is usually worth the money to hire an investment banker who knows your industry and has relationships with prospective buyers. If you are doing a real estate deal, you want an experienced real estate attorney who has done many deals like the one you are working on (and not a general practitioner lawyer). If you are doing an M&A transaction, you want a lawyer that has done 50 or 100 M&A deals (and not a general business lawyer). These advisors don’t come cheap, but are worth it if you get the right one.
如果這是一筆很大的交易而且還很複雜，你需要真正的專業人士幫助你談判和起草合同。比如，如果你要出售你的公司，通常合算的做法是僱用一個瞭解你所處的行業並與潛在買家有聯繫的投資銀行家。如果你正在做房地產交易，你應該要找一個經驗豐富已經做過很多類似交易的房地產律師（而不是一個所有方面都涉及的律師）。如果你正在處理併購交易，你需要一個已經完成50或100起併購交易的律師（而不是一般商業律師）。這些顧問並不便宜，但要是你找到正確的人，一切都是值得的。
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