I have heard or more than several occasions that I am a ‘tough’ or a ‘hard-nosed’ negotiator. It’s probably not a bad reputation to have precede me-people expect me to ask big numbers- but I prefer to think of myself as an effectiue negotiator, rather than as a tough one.

I actually take more pride in my sales ability than in my negotiating skills, because it is much harder to make someone want to buy than it is to define the terms under which they are buying.

In fact, I often see negotiation as the last step in an ongoing sales effort, the culmination of a process that may have lasted several months or more. When the time comes to negotiate, certain, principles do apply.

  

What, When, Where, How Exclusive, And How Much?

All five of the questions asked above should be answered during the course of negotiation. Each can be expanded, limited, or traded off as the negotiation dictates.

    

Even in cases such as real estate where all five would not generally apply, it is still a useful list to run through. It might provide solutions, (‘Rather than buy this property from you, suppose I were to lease it for ninety- nine years’) which weren’t contemplated when the negotiation began.

THE WHAT

What is it, precisely, that you are selling? With celebrities it always comes down to two things: their name and their time. But this still leaves the ‘what’ question far from answered. What rights are you selling to the name and time and for what us is it intended ?

THE WHEN

This means how long, from ‘one contiguous eight-hour period’ which can be used to define a work day, to ‘for ever’.

THE WHERE

‘Territory’, which can range from ‘the world’ to ‘South Cincinnati’, is an interesting area for trade-offs and multi-national multi-regional contracts. We have several television properties, for in-stance, which are defined by national borders, others by a common language. It is because of the territorial aspect of negotiation  that we maintain so many offices around the world- and thereby stay so many jumps ahead of our competitors.

THE HOW EXCLUSIVE

We have found this to be an attractive negotiating chip. To what degree does the buyer wish to shut out the rest of the competition? This can mean product exclusivity, industry- wide exclusivity, territorial exclusivity, a ‘head start’ exclusivity-all sorts of interesting things when linked to other aspects of the negotiation. 

THE HOW MUCH

This means money, but not necessarily money alone. It can also mean stocks, securities or other forms of equity. For us, it often means ‘how much time’. Time is an active professional athlete’s most cherished commodity. He or she must spend a certain amount of time practicing or playing on tournaments or games. Since time can’t be manufactured or expanded, we guard with a bulldog’s tenacity the number of ‘personal days’ an athlete must commit to a client.