Improving Negotiation Practice


The Situation Our client was the general contractor of a construction company, with projects in an international environment, and a duration of around 2 years to fulfill the assignments. The engineers did not feel qualified for negotiations with the sub-contractors after the completion of the projects, even if the facts clearly seemed to point out that the claims could only be arranged to the advantage of our client. The loss of money was considerable; in the six digit area on a yearly basis.


Case Study - Improving Negotiation Practice in High-Level Claim Management Techniques The customer request: Train the engineers to bring home better financial results. The xpand-pro approach: Negotiation is a matter of facts and emotions. After the preparatory meetings it turned out, that the engineers had been highly qualified and trained on the legal side. However, there had been very little understanding of the basics of communication. xpand pointed out that engineers influence on 3 different levels in negotiation-situations: through their authenticity (first impressions, mature personality, charisma, body language), their empathy (decision to listen actively and not only to talk) and - of course - through the correct usage of language (leading the conversation through asking, not making commitments too soon, looking for a win-win-situation, etc.). The formal sessions were enhanced by video training, role-play games and common wrap-ups. The result: The training had been booked initially for one trial-session, which was then extended to 3 training sessions. Based upon the results, the client asked 2 years later for another 2 groups to be trained.