Reading · 22 min

The term that can move

This reading is a negotiation, not a price list. A position is the number someone says. An interest is the reason the number exists. The useful move is to name the constraint, then leave a fact a person who was not in the room can check: unit, date, and price. Friendly language with no fact is not an agreement. Read for what can move besides the percentage.

Read it in English first. The other language is a gloss, not the task.

1

A supplier negotiation often starts with the number the buyer wants to cut. That habit treats price as the only term that can move. In practice the date, the volume, and who pays for a late shipment can be worth more than a small discount. A buyer who opens with a demand for 8 percent off teaches the supplier that nothing else is on the table. A buyer who names the constraint first — the line stops if the parts arrive after April 2 — gives the supplier a problem they can solve without cutting the margin to nothing.

2

Experienced negotiators separate positions from interests. The position is the number each side says out loud. The interest is the reason the number exists. The buyer's interest may be a launch that cannot slip. The supplier's interest may be a factory that is already booked through March. Once both interests are visible, a later date for a smaller first shipment can satisfy both, while a forced discount on the full order satisfies neither. A meeting that only trades percentages never finds that split.

3

The written record matters as much as the talk. A note that says the two sides agreed to work together is not an agreement. A note that says a first shipment of 400 units on April 18, the remaining 600 on May 9, and the price unchanged can be checked by someone who was not in the room. Firms that lose time after a negotiation they called successful usually lost it in the sentence that never named the unit, the date, or the price. The skill is not sounding friendly. The skill is leaving a fact a stranger can repeat.

Questions

1. Main ideaThe passage is mainly arguing that
2. VocabularyIn paragraph 1, margin is closest in meaning to
3. DetailAccording to paragraph 2, what can satisfy both sides?
4. InferenceWhat can be inferred about a note that only says the sides agreed to work together?
5. DetailAccording to the passage, a note that says the two sides agreed to work together
6. VocabularyIn this passage, a position is
7. InferenceA buyer who opens by demanding 8 percent off teaches the supplier that

Answer every question, then check.