Adapting Communication Styles for Successful Business Negotiations in Pune
What is negotiation?
Communication is not easy as it seems, else there wouldn’t have been so many misunderstandings, failure to express our thoughts, inability to convince or negotiate with people in our lives.
Negotiation is simple words means the communication happening between 2 parties, where both are trying to influence each other and get the best for themselves, where the final conclusion should be achieved.
Small kids negotiate with their parents to buy a new toy, by throwing tantrums or crying or by puppy face, while the parents disagree. However, the conclusion is reached when that toy is either purchased or not purchased.
Similarly, college kids negotiate with their parents to send them for a Goa trip, in return they will study for extra hours and get extra marks.
Business Communication in business negotiations is more crucial because its success and failures will affect the top line of the entire organisation
Let’s understand business negotiation with an example
Nagesh is writing an email to his Boss asking for 2 weeks of leave this month, while he had already taken 2 weeks of leave last month as well. There is a 99% chance that the Boss will not allow Nagesh’s leave. This is where Nagesh has to negotiate well and where effective business communication comes into the picture.
Here is how Nagesh needs to email:
Dear Boss,
Last month I took 2 weeks of leave for my sister’s wedding and thank you for giving me that long duration of leaves.
This month as it happens, 2 of my best friends have returned from the USA after 10 long years. These are the only 2 real friends I have in my life and we had promised ourselves in college to have a 10 day hike in Himachal, when we have enough money.
For good or bad, fortunes have striked this month, where in the USA returned friends are free and we have the money as well.
Hence I would request a 2 weeks leave this month again
However, here is what I am doing to mitigate my absence. I briefed Ashish on all work and will be in continuous touch with him for all dependencies. I will be rejoining the office 10 days before our current client’s deliverable and will personally fill all the gaps that would have happened. I am assuring you of zero gaps and errors in the deliverable of our current client.
Looking for a positive response from your end
Above was a successful business communication via email for negotiation.
Effect of culture in effective communication
The biggest mistake one makes in business communication is that we assume everyone in India is like them.
What might be pretentious to us, might be purely sublime and celebration to others.
Eg – South action cinema may appear pretentious and so will their non-conventional looking actors. But they are demi-gods for people in the south.
What words might be casual and normal to us, might be extremely sensitive to the other person
Eg – Some colloquial words in North India which are lovingly and casually addressed to each other, might seem highly offensive for other non-North Indians
This is a cultural difference!
Culture changes in India every 200 kms. Without studying the culture of the other person, it will always be difficult to have successful negotiations.
How to enable effective business communication in Pune particularly
Here is the thing about Pune. It was a small and quiet city in the 1990s until the IT boom happened in Pune. Post the 2000s a lot of IT and other industrialization happened. Hence most of the people living in Pune currently, those doing business and also those who are owners of business are mostly not actual natives of Pune.
Hence for effective business communication in Pune, you need to find the actual lover affair of the person with Pune. When did he shift to Pune, why did he shift to pune, how much is he emotionally attached to Pune, etc!
In short, you need to be aware of 2 cultures – culture from which the person hails from and what is his current affiliated culture with Pune
Beware of not hurting the sentiments of the both cultures in your business communication
Example on how to negotiate in business w.r.t culture
One important aspect in negotiating in business is being aware of the other person’s culture
Rita is a sales head going for a sales meeting with his client, Arun,the CEO of a manufacturing company. Rita has researched before the meeting that Arun hails from Jaipur and has been settled in Pune since past 15 years. Thus Arun is an amalgamation of the cultures of Jaipur and even Pune. The emotions that Arun might get swayed away could be dependent on both cultures. These emotions are extremely crucial to be leveraged in the negotiation stage.
In the give and take part of negotiation, Rita needs to mention the benefits his manufacturing company could get; and also mention the non-tangible benefits associated with Jaipur and Pune
Conclusion
Effective business communication’s success in negotiation depends on several factors, one of which is the culture. More you understand and respect that culture, the higher is your chance to leverage it for your negotiation success.
