Mastering Emotional Intelligence for Successful Long-Distance Negotiations

Abstract

[Name] Skill #8: Hone your Emotional IQ to a level that you not only use it to build relationships and motivate people but to communicate and negotiate better. Last week Dwight asked you to consider how best to cultivate customers who operate at a long-distance from EC. Dwight wants to extend this idea, even more, to see how you would approach the idea of using your Emotional IQ to communicate and negotiate with the long-distance customers. Sarah is the team lead for EC in Japan. Sarah wants to find a small office for EW to show its products to potential distributors. She has arrived in Tokyo armed with her budget and culture research and confidence in her negotiation skills. Sarah, with the help of a real estate broker has found a promising leasehold in Tokyo near medical centers and elderly communities.  The building is a small space but has good foot traffic and signage space and is located in a premier area of Tokyo.  It is 75 Tsubo or 2,669 sq. ft. in size. The owners (a father and son) are asking for a rent of 1,000,000 JPY or $8895.21 per month excluding utilities.  The owners have several buildings in the area and are well-respected real estate brokers in Tokyo as their family has been in the business for generations. The broker who arranged the meeting with the owners urged Sarah to think carefully before she spoke to the two men. They were rather old fashioned, and it was probably best to avoid offending them as they controlled a lot of real estate in Tokyo.  It might be hard to find a good space if they did not like her.  Still, the rent was higher than she budgeted for and getting the price down $1500 would be best for the company.  Sarah was due to meet the father and son the next day.  At first, she thought it best for the real estate broker who showed her the space to carry out the negotiations.  When asked, the broker was surprised by the request.  He declined immediately explaining that it would be impolite.  Sarah was worried. She always thought she could read people and their body language. She also felt confident in her negotiating skills as she was an active listener. Was she out of her league? It did not take Sarah long to see that the men were playing on a different playing field. They did not talk much, were not much interested in Sarah's offer of $1500 less than the asking price. She began to talk too much and become more urgent in her demand for a lower price. The men said nothing except no. They did not get up nor did they comment. They sat calmly and showed little expression. The son occasionally looked at the father. They both cracked a smile at the funny joke made as Sarah left. Sarah was not sure if that was good or bad. Were they laughing with her or at her? The real question was; Did Sarah make any headway in the negotiations? Sarah could not tell. Dwight having heard the story was just as confused as Sarah and just as worried. It was a week after the meeting and Sarah still had not heard anything from the owners. The broker assures her that is good news. She may not have gotten the space but they did not cut her out from looking at other properties they owned. He would have heard by now. Dwight is thinking that all the employees may benefit from some basic emotional intelligence tactics that could be used in cross-cultural communication and negotiation.