At any rate, no one will deny that good negotiating skills will improve an organization's results. Provided, however, the organization has good, quantifiable value that can be leveraged during the negotiation. That said, I believe that top notch negotiation skills do not necessarily go hand in hand with world class account management. Some of the best sellers I have ever known did not describe themselves as particularly good negotiators. Many purveyors of the premier negotiating resources tell us that you have to negotiate for everything valuable in life.
Nothing comes for free, they say.
Or, maybe not. Let's first examine what's necessary for two parties to engage in a negotiation. In addition to having some common interests that brought them together in the first place, the negotiators must have identified an area of value difference. A value difference arises when two or more parties disagree over the value or perceived value of any negotiable issue they both consider important. This value difference brings with it some unwelcome friends that have long characterized the adversarial buying and selling process.