1- During our negotiation, there was not one clear person taking control. Both Krystina and I stated our concerns and facts and worked well with each other. I do not believe that either of us was dictating to the other. Critical factors that effected the negotiation were price, delivery amount, and incentives. These factors are what we used to come to an agreement with each other. This negotiation was different from the last exercise that we did because this time we had more of a plan. We had more time to read over the case and come with something to follow. Both of us knew coming into the negotiation what we were willing to settle with and what our ultimate goal was. The last negotiation, we didn't have as much time to plan. This shows you how important it is to be prepared when entering a negotiation. I learned during this negotiation that I am not as strong as I thought I was in asking things. I could have came stronger with my price or tried to convince Krystina more. There was not much conflict involved during our negotiation. We talked through everything and both of us were good listeners. Knowing Krystina beforehand, I did not expect there to be conflict since we always have worked well together in the past. In the future, I would be stronger on my position. Originally I didn't want to accept a price lower than $7.25 but when I realized Krystina was not willing to budge, I accepted a $6.75 final offer. Hopefully having more exercises I will become better at bargaining.

2- Overall, our negotiations were not successful in that we were not able to make a deal. I do not think any one particular person controlled the negotiation in our case. I think because the buyer had much more flexibility on offers, the buyer tended to suggest the offers first while the seller would counter as a response to the buyer. The seller had a very small window to negotiate in that she could not drop her price below $7.25 so the buyer had to make much larger offers in comparison to the seller. Therefore, one of the critical factors that affected negotiation as I mentioned above was the degree of flexibility of the price. I think price is usually a large factor in any negotiation and if both parties do not have flexibility to negotiate price, then we would need to move to a more creative approach such as addressing quantity ordered, promotion, etc. I think our group focused so much on price that we forgot about the ability to negotiate the length of the contract or the amount of coffee we purchased. It was not until the end that we began negotiating quantity and other factors and maybe if we had a little more time, we could have made a deal. This exercise allowed us to negotiate many other factors versus the initial exercise. I realized that you can focus less on price and maybe offer a higher price but negotiate another term of the agreement such as potentially agreeing to pay less per pound if we renew next year or something to that effect. This exercise really highlighted all of the different factors that a person who is negotiating can add to their negotiation plan to use when conducting these types of conversations.

Overall I learned that as a negotiator you don’t necessarily have to be the one to speak and make offers. Rather, if you sit back calmly and listen to what is being said, you can begin to figure out what the other side is really looking for. In our negotiations, our team was throwing out all different ideas and offers while the seller tended to react more to what we were saying rather than starting off with her demands. Melissa stayed calm and collected listening to our different ideas and reacting accordingly. She knew what she was looking for and knew what she was not willing to drop her price to. It’s okay to sit back and wait to try to decipher what each party wants and then move forward with making an offer which is exactly what Melissa did and in that sense she was successful in our offers increasing at a much faster pace compared to hers. In the future I do plan to keep more of a “poker face” on while I negotiate. A lot of times at work I negotiate over the phone so this is a different experience for me. Negotiating in person is about body language and how you present yourself. Melissa came off very calm and confident. I felt that at times I may have come off as being too eager to get it resolved that I lost track of how much I had increased my offer compared to the minor increases the other side was making. There was one point I think there was some miscommunication resulting in the buyer bidding against themselves. It is important to thoroughly prepare and plan out offers in advance to avoid this happening. Allowing the other party to articulate their offer clearly before advancing is crucial and an important lesson I learned during this exercise. In the future, I plan to prepare more thorough offers and listen to the other side completely before making any additional offers.

3-I played the role of the purchaser and Fahad, my fellow classmate, played the seller. We both had a strict set of guidelines that we had to meet which I was well aware of. In my opinion, I controlled most of the negotiation. I proposed the first deal and ultimately suggest the final deal. At first Fahad was very firm on his price regardless of my many attempts to sway him. I knew I had to get creative with the pricing which is why I chose two separate prices. I essentially agreed to his price for a trial period of 6 months but then would propose a long term contract at a discounted price plus the influence from the University to back my argument. One thing I learned that makes a great negotiator is being able to think on the fly. I had a planned negotiation but in the moment the only thing that got me the deal was my ability to adapt. This led me to another finding. Each negotiation must be treated differently. To be a really successful negotiator you have to present a unique perceived value to each person you may be bargaining with. Negotiations are not cookie cutter, they require personalization and willingness to compromise. I would do many things the same in the future as I thought I worked in an effective manner and ultimately got a better deal than was required of me. However, depending on the individual I was negotiating with in the future, my actions may be different.